20:29 20 November 2015
Junior doctors will stage a strike as they rejected Jeremy Hunt's 11per cent pay rise, which they claimed masked a con and a cut.
Under the proposed scheme, doctors' basic pay will increase but they will lose up to 27 hours a week of bonus payments for working antisocial shifts.
37,000 medics across England voted over plans to rip their pay conditions to form the Tories' 7-day NHS.
Doctors are now set to strike over three days, with full walkouts from 8 am to 5 pm on December 8 and 16.
British Medical Association chairman Dr Mark Porter said: "We regret the inevitable disruption that this will cause but it is the government’s adamant insistence on imposing a contract that is unsafe for patients in the future, and unfair for doctors now and in the future, that has brought us to this point.
"Patients are doctors’ first priority, which is why, even with such a resounding mandate, we are keen to avert the need for industrial action, which is why we have approached Acas to offer conciliatory talks with the health secretary and NHS Employers to clarify the conflicting information coming from government over the past weeks.