Militant resident doctors today fire the starting gun on a Labour summer of discontent by launching a strike ballot over NHS pay.

The British Medical Association is urging members to support up to six months of walkouts, with fears nurses, teachers and other public sector workers could follow.

The medics - previously known as ‘junior doctors’ - are threatening to disrupt patient care despite seeing their pay jump by 28.9 per cent in just three years.

They have crippled services by taking industrial action 11 times since 2022, forcing health bosses to cancel an estimated 1.5million appointments.

It threatens to bring further misery on Chancellor Rachel Reeves who would have to raise taxes or cut services in order to meet the inflated pay demands.

Health secretary Wes Streeting last year awarded resident doctors a 22.3 per cent pay deal with no strings attached - ignoring warnings that they would still hold him to ransom again this year.

Ministers announced last week that most doctors would receive a 4 per cent pay rise following the latest review of public sector pay, with resident doctors to receive an extra £750 on top of the uplift.

The increase, recommended by an independent pay review body, is above the rate of inflation, which jumped to 3.5 per cent in April, the highest since January 2024.

Other NHS workers in England, including nurses, midwives and physiotherapists, will receive just a 3.6 per cent pay increase, effective from April 1.

Professor Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, cited the success of previous doctors’ strikes as she warned earlier this month that her members could ‘bare our teeth’ and take industrial in order to secure a 25 per cent rise.

And the Nation Education Union, the largest union for teachers, has threatened to ‘register a dispute’ with the Government unless it fully funds the 4 per cent pay rise for teachers, part of which is currently due to be covered by existing school budgets.

Other health unions are considering their options.

Tory MP Edward Argar, the party’s shadow health and social care secretary, said: ‘We warned Labour that giving in to union demands on above-inflation pay rises with no strings attached last year would only see them coming back for more.

‘Now we see the threat of a summer of discontent and a summer of strikes at risk of becoming a reality, with NHS staff on the picket line rather than the frontline.

‘The Government bragged about their approach to pay deals last year and are now reaping the consequences.

'They need to get a grip and must urgently set out how these new pay deals will be funded without cutting services.

‘Wes Streeting and Labour must face down union pressure by securing a fair, sustainable agreement for both workers and taxpayers.

‘If they don’t, it’s patients and the public who will suffer.’

Resident doctors in England today begin receiving their ballots, which could give the BMA a mandate for strike action from July this year to January 2026.

Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly patients, said: ‘Here we are again with waiting lists still far too high, widespread strikes in the NHS being threatened, and with GPs and NHS dentists still listed as endangered species.

‘Frontline staff continue to struggle to cover burgeoning vacancies. And all we have is promised strategies and long-term plans.

‘Once again patients will be the collateral damage from the lack of radical action by Labour to sort out the NHS staffing crisis.’

Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, co-chairs of the BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee. said: ‘We are urging doctors to vote yes to strike action. By voting yes they will be telling the Government there is no alternative to fixing pay – this cannot wait for different fiscal circumstances and a healthier NHS. The answer is to fix it today.’

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said health leaders welcomed the steps taken last year to resolve the ‘last dispute’ between resident doctors and the government.

And he added: ‘They note that the government has gone on to make a further pay award this year which is again higher than elsewhere in the public sector.

‘Many will struggle to understand how threatening strikes which would again harm patient care is a proportionate reaction to successive annual pay awards that average 8 per cent and 5 per cent.

‘It will only be through dialogue about longer term plans for the NHS and its workforce that the concerns of resident doctors can be addressed, and their aspirations met.’

Mr Streeting said: ‘Within weeks of coming into office, I was determined to resolve the pay dispute and give resident doctors a substantial pay rise.

‘That's now being followed by another above-inflation average pay award of 5.4 per cent.

‘The result is that Resident Doctors have seen their pay increase by 28.9 per cent compared to three years ago.

‘I want to work in partnership with resident doctors to deliver the change that the NHS is crying out for.’