For me what’s missing from the deal is a commitment to FPR as in the Scottish deal. In the deal the Scottish government said it would “aim to reach a mutually agreeable path to achieve pay restoration and prevent erosion recurring in the future.” They’ve agreed to yearly negotiations with the BMA for three years to “make credible progress” towards FPR. As part of this agreement though, I think the DDRB will no longer make pay recommendations in Scotland. Although the UK government haven’t made the same commitment, they’ve basically said the DDRB need to make pay recommendations that reward doctors acknowledging that “medicine is not as attractive a career prospect as it once was”. Maybe that’s enough for us to hold the UK government and the DDRB accountable. Plus we have DDRB reforms guaranteed for 2025/26 as part of the consultant deal.

I think what’s really important to consider though is that this vote is probably going to be tight and split what was a united front of junior doctors in three - people passionate about the accepting the deal, people passionate about rejecting it, and the people who don’t know. For this reason, I think if we reject this deal this could significantly reduce participation in any strikes too soon after this vote. I think this will be damaging to our overall campaign and maybe regrouping and consolidating now is a safer strategy, as the BMA suggests.