EXCLUSIVE Revealed: BMA's war chest will fund doctors' strikes with unions able to spend MILLIONS to wreak NHS havoc
The British Medical Association boasts it is prepared for a 'long-term' fight with Health Secretary Wes Streeting if talks to prevent crippling strikes fail to reach a breakthrough.
And it says further reserves worth tens of millions can be tapped into to wreak chaos throughout the summer.
The 'industrial action reserve', worth £1 million at the start of this year, is 'ring-fenced' to fund a campaign for resident doctors to get pay hikes of 29 per cent, according to documents seen by the Mail.
But other reserves collectively containing more than £50 million can also be drawn on to continue the fight – and inflict as much damage on the health service as possible, the BMA said.
The revelations dampen hopes of a breakthrough in talks before a five-day walkout begins at 7am on Friday.
The Tories on Sunday night said the BMA war chest was proof that Labour had lost control of its union 'paymasters' after promising to end the strikes ahead of last year's general election.
'This is the latest sign they will be using their bully-boy tactics to hold the country to ransom,' Conservative business spokesman Andrew Griffith said.
Junior doctors take part in a rally outside Downing Street over pay just last year
Pay of doctors has soared by 91% in last eight years
By Shaun Wooller Health Editor
Walkout: Despite recent pay rises, resident doctors are set to strike on Friday
Doctors have pocketed the biggest pay rises of any profession since 2017, figures show.
Medics have benefited from a boost of 91 per cent over the past eight years, according to the Office for National Statistics – a real-terms increase of 41 per cent when adjusting for inflation.
The average advertised salary for a doctor was £99,500 in May, up from £52,000 in January 2017. This represents a £21,400 real-terms increase.
The figures, which were compiled by tracking median salaries in online job adverts, show that no group of workers has seen a bigger jump. It comes as resident doctors – previously known as 'junior' – are set to walk out for five days from Friday as they push for a 29 per cent rise.
The ONS data shows doctors' advertised wages have grown twice as fast as those earned by cleaners, which saw the second-largest increase over the period.
Among the biggest losers are pilots, logistics managers and printers. Architects, IT technicians and project managers also command far lower salaries in today's market.
Polling by YouGov shows only a third of the public are behind striking doctors, while half oppose the walkouts.
'Labour has bent over backwards for the unions every chance they have got with no-strings-attached pay rises. It is no surprise they are now running riot. They are out of control.
'Thanks to Labour's weakness, we are now facing a summer of discontent.'
Tory grandee Sir Jeremy Hunt, who was health secretary from 2012 to 2018, said: 'It 's totally ridiculous, having had a 22 per cent pay rise [last year]... for them to be going on strike.'
Millions of patients could be affected by a drawn-out conflict, with five having died because of previous strikes in 2023 and 2024. There are around 70,000 resident doctors working in the NHS.
Mr Streeting has branded the strikes 'unconscionable'.
Talks last week were described as 'constructive', but the BMA has not called off the strikes and said there was only a 'small' chance of a deal.
In a bid to get a deal over the line and head off the strikes, Mr Streeting has pledged that British doctors would be prioritised over foreign counterparts for NHS jobs.
It comes amid wider fears about a 'summer of discontent', with the Birmingham bin strikes set to last beyond summer and teachers threatening to strike.
Hospital consultant doctors are also threatening to join resident doctors. The BMA is demanding they separately get a 35 per cent pay rise.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The unions are Labour's paymasters at the end of the day. They're getting their payback by being allowed to run riot.
'If we're not careful, we're heading towards all the lessons learned in the 1970s being reversed and the unions just being able to hold the country to ransom and take a wrecking ball to the economy.'
The BMA's accounts detail how the union is gearing up for potentially months-long strike action. Under the heading 'Industrial action reserve', it adds: 'This reserve was created to ring-fence funds identified to contribute towards industrial action.'
The documents also say: 'Contingency plans are in place to fund any long-term industrial action from reserves.' The money could help to cover lost pay or costs incurred by striking doctors.
A BMA spokesman said: 'The BMA has held reserves for industrial action for several years and they are there to contribute towards the costs of industrial action.
'The 'other reserves' outlined in the BMA's annual report to December 2024 are those of the entire BMA Group, not connected to industrial action and have fluctuated little from the previous year.'
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