Press reports last week said unnamed ‘ministerial sources' were claiming that the BMA had no case, and advising the government to stand firm.

But Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy GPC chairman, said: ‘We've not heard anything at all. If they are so confident it surprises me that they've not responded at all to our letter.'

A DoH spokesman said that the government was considering the challenge, and would respond in due course.

The BMA's challenge rests on paragraph 3.12 of the Statement of Fees and Entitlements, which claims that the monthly correction factor payments will increase at the same ‘uprating percentage' as the global sum payment.

GPC sources say that the DDRB ignored this statement. Instead it gave undue weight to the aspiration in paragraph 1.6 of the 2006/7 contract revisions, that practices should become less reliant on MPIG.

jonn.elledge@haymarket.com

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