JUNIOR doctors have been told they must raise £130,000 for a security of costs order before they can bring their legal challenge against the Health Secretary's decision to impose a new contract on them.

The doctors' campaign group, Justice for Health, is seeking a High Court ruling next September that Jeremy Hunt has acted unlawfully and "misled Parliament".

They say the new contract for junior doctors working in the NHS in England is "unsafe and unsustainable".

The group's founding members are all junior doctors - Dr Nadia Masood, Dr Ben White, Dr Francesca Silman, Dr Amar Mashru and Dr Marie-Estella McVeigh.

All five were outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London with their mouths gagged with tape prior to a hearing before Mr Justice Green.

They accused the Health Secretary of attempting to silence them by asking the court to order them to pay an "astronomical" £150,000 in a costs protection deposit - a cap on the legal costs one side will have to pay to the other in the event of losing the case.

In court, lawyers for Mr Hunt said the cap demand was reasonable and achievable, and £118,000 had already been raised by the doctors.

Clive Sheldon QC said the final costs bill the Health Secretary expected to have to meet in fighting the legal challenge exceeded £200,000.

Jenni Richards QC, for the doctors, said much of the money they had so far been offered had been pledged but not actually received and suggested the deposit be set at £120,000.

The judge ruled the deposit should be £130,000 - for both sides.

He rejected a Government suggestion that the doctors' case should be automatically dismissed if they fail to meet the cap deadline and directed that they should have an opportunity to make further submissions to the court if they fail to come up with the full amount.