Resident doctors agreed to an offer in 2023 in which the Scottish Government pledged to make ‘credible progress' on the path towards pay restoration for each of the following three financial years.

However, the BMA says that following months of negotiations, this year the Scottish Government offered an uplift to resident doctors which would have been the lowest uplift of all resident doctors in the UK, and less than was recommended by the independent pay review body.

The union says the because the Scottish Government has 'broken' the multi-year agreement, the BMA's Scottish Resident Doctor Committee has now voted to enter into formal industrial dispute with plans to ballot members later this year for strike action to protect that deal.

Dr Chris Smith, chair of the BMA's Scottish Resident Doctor Committee, said: ‘In our pay negotiations this year, the Government has shamefully reneged on the deal we agreed in 2023, and we therefore have been left with no choice but to move forward with plans to ballot members for strike action in order to protect that deal.

‘This agreement was the only thing that prevented strike action by resident doctors in Scotland in 2023 and we remain the UK's only resident doctors not to have gone on strike since it was agreed.'

Dr Smith added: ‘Years and years of being under-valued and under-appreciated previously led us to the point of balloting our members and it is extremely disappointing that we have been left in a position to do so again just two years later. The decision to ballot for strike action has not been taken lightly, but frankly we have been left with no other choice.

‘We are not asking for more – we trusted the Scottish Government in accepting the pay deal and are simply asking that they now deliver that deal. To rebuild trust – and more importantly to avoid industrial action – we need to get back to the negotiating table where we could consider a serious offer with a chance of averting picket lines outside of hospitals.'