The government will enter formal talks with junior doctors in a bid to resolve the long-running strikes.

The move follows a meeting on Thursday between new Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting and the British Medical Association (BMA).

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Junior doctors in England have been embroiled in a 20-month row over pay and conditions, which has led to a series of strikes.

Mr Streeting met the BMA shortly after Labour won the election, having promised to sit down with their officials to try to break the deadlock if he was to get into government.

He said: “After a second constructive meeting, I am pleased to announce that my department will enter formal negotiations with the BMA junior doctors’ committee on Tuesday.

“This is a crucial step forward, as we work to end this dispute and change the way junior doctors are treated in the NHS.”

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Mr Streeting said the new Labour government had inherited “terrible economic circumstances” and he has “repeated that message in meetings with the junior doctors”.

However, he said: “I am encouraged by our early meetings that there is a deal to be done.

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“Strikes have had a significant cost to patients, staff, and the NHS. Serious work is now under way to finally bring them to an end.”

One of the biggest barriers to advancing negotiations with the previous government was the lack of trust between the BMA and former health secretaries Steve Barclay and later Victoria Atkins.

The BMA felt neither had the full backing from Downing Street and there was no genuine intent to resolve the dispute.

While in opposition, Labour said it would end the strikes by getting round the negotiating table – though they would not say what sort of pay rise, if any, they would be willing to give.

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Junior doctors want a pay restoration deal that will see 2008 equivalent salaries – effectively a 35% pay rise.

Mr Streeting has previously said that is not affordable.

However, it is in the new government’s interests to get this resolved, given their manifesto pledge to create 40,000 new weekly hospital appointments to bring down the waiting lists.

That will be difficult to achieve if there is further strike action.

About 1.5 million appointments have been postponed since the current wave of industrial action began in the NHS in England in December 2022, which has included walkouts by junior doctors, consultants, paramedics, physiotherapists and other staff groups.

This came at a time when the NHS was already facing a record high backlog, an issue exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.

It is estimated that strikes have cost the NHS an estimated £3bn.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: “We have just had our second meeting with the secretary of state for health and social care.

“We are pleased to announce that formal negotiations will begin on Tuesday, 23 July.

“We have set an expectation that these will conclude by the time of our executive meeting on 16 August.”

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