The consultants will walk out on 20 and 21 July.

Members were asked to vote on "Christmas Day levels of care", the medical union said.

Christmas-like cover means the action will be "safe and effective", it claimed.

The BMA admitted, however, that while emergency care will still be provided, elective or non-emergency work will be cancelled.

Junior doctors have already said they are planning to strike from 13 to 18 July.

It means that for seven days next month, regular appointments and pre-planned operations will be disrupted.

Consultants' average earnings are about £128,000, the Department of Health and Social Care said, following a 4.5% rise in the last financial year.

It also said consultants will "benefit from generous changes to pension taxation announced at budget", describing the proposed strikes as "disappointing" and urging the BMA to "carefully consider the likely impact of any action on patients".

There was a high turnout for the consultants' vote on industrial action - 71.08%.

Almost 21,000 medics voted yes - a majority of just over 86%.

"This result demonstrates the strength of feeling among consultants," the BMA said, adding that since 2008/09 the "real terms take-home pay of consultants in England has been cut by 35%".

It went on: "And that is before the impact of this year's soaring inflation. This results in a huge loss of earnings during a consultant's working life. It also impacts the value of their pension and massively reduces their income throughout retirement."

Dr Vishal Sharma, BMA consultants committee chair, said: "Consultants don't want to have to take industrial action, but have been left with no option in the face of a government that continues to cut our pay year after year."

The medical union hit out at the condition of the health service, too, saying: "Working in the NHS over the last fifteen years has become more challenging, more stressful, and more demanding.

"There is absolutely no justification for the consultants of today being valued less than they were in the recent past.

"As it stands, consultants are effectively expected to work until May without pay every year."

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The result of the strike ballot "sends a clear sign to government that our pay must be fixed now and for the future", the union said.

"Unless ministers come back to us with a credible offer, we plan to call 48 hours of action from 7am on Thursday 20 July."

The Department of Health and Social Care said: "Strikes are hugely disruptive for patients and put pressure on other NHS staff. We've been engaging with the BMA Consultants Committee on their concerns already and stand ready to open talks again - we urge them to come to the negotiating table rather than proceeding with their proposed strike dates."

Earlier, it was announced that nurses' strikes are to end in England after the profession's largest union failed to secure enough votes to carry out further action.