correspondent, nick triggle. remind us why the consultants and senior doctors are striking today. the dispute, like many others we see in the public sector, is about pay. the british medical association says that consultants have suffered pay erosion with below inflation pay rises for the past 15 years. that has prompted, as you say, the first strike by consultants since 2012. nhs bosses warned this will have the biggest impact of any of the strikes we have seen so far ofjunior doctors, nurses and ambulance staff. that is because consultants cannot be replaced. if you are relying on a consultant anaesthetist for a surgery to be carried out, that could mean a whole team of nurses and other theatre staff cannot work and other theatre staff cannot work and that list stops completely. so how much are consultants paid, then? consultant contracts are quite complex. there are essentially eight separate pay grades. the starting salary last year was 88,000, rising to 119,000 at the ve
means that almost all planned nhs care in england has come to a standstill. consultants have been offered a 6% pay rise by the government. they say that is not enough. the doctor s union, the british medical association says that since 2008, consultants take home pay has fallen by 35%, taking changes into tax and pensions into account. it says this fall is a bigger percentage than other groups within the nhs. a 6% pay increase would mean basic pay, starting at nearly £94,000. the most experienced consultants would receive more than £126,000, the reaching that salary takes on average around 19 years of working in the nhs. let s cross live now to our correspondent who has been gauging the mood among strikers in central london. john, what other strikers saying about what they want from the government and how far they are willing to go? you from the government and how far they are willing to go? are willing to go? you are right, this is all about are willing to go? you are
pricing could be hampering people s ability to compare products. the cma said retailers should make the necessary changes, or risk facing enforcement action. it also called on the government to bring in reforms to tighten the law. our business reporter peter ruddick is in salford with the details. what does this report mean for consumers? what does this report mean for consumers? . , , ~ , consumers? that will be the very key auestion i consumers? that will be the very key question i think consumers? that will be the very key question i think the consumers? that will be the very key question i think the chancellor, - question i think the chancellor, jeremy hunt, will be asking. the timing he was really interesting. we have fresh inflation figures out yesterday suggesting that the average headline inflation rate had eased a little, but that food inflation remained incredibly high. the chancellor, jeremy hunt, he directly question supermarkets questioning whether they were