The BMA said it was taking industrial action as the government had not done enough to address their concerns over pay and job shortages.

Both sides have been conducting more than two months of talks since the start of 2026.

The planned walk-out is due to start from 7 April at 7am, just after the Easter bank holiday in England, until 6.59am on 13 April.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the union had rejected a "historic" deal which "would have seen more frequent and fairer pay rises, more training places from this year, and more money in resident doctors' pockets".

It will be the 15th round of strikes by resident doctors in England since 2023.

Health leaders estimated the walkout could cost the NHS up to £300 million.

Rory Deighton, speaking on behalf of the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers, said: "With the five-day walkout last July estimated to cost the service £300 million, these strikes will be a big hit to budgets and a terrible way to start the financial year."

The doctors' union - British Medical Association - urged the government to "act fast" to prevent the strikes from happening.

It comes after doctors' and dentists' pay review body the DDRB recommended a 3.5% uplift for doctors.

The BMA said in a post on X on Wednesday: "Resident doctors have been left with no choice but to strike.

"Weeks of negotiations with the Government have failed to deliver enough progress on pay, with the goalposts being moved at the last minute.

"We have called six days of industrial action to make the Government listen, stop the game playing, and come back with an offer that delivers fairly on both jobs and pay."

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Jack Fletcher, the BMA Resident Doctors Committee chairman, said the Government "will need to act fast" to prevent the six-day walkout.

He said: "We cannot ignore that, thanks to global events, economic indicators now point to years of greatly increased inflation.

"We are simply not going to put an offer to doctors that risks locking in further erosion of pay at a time when doctors continue to leave the UK for other countries.

"We are not closing the door on talks. We remain willing to negotiate and are eager to get a deal done if we can simply recapture the early positive spirit of negotiations.

"No strikes need to happen, but Government will need to act fast to prevent them."

Mr Fletcher added: "We have been negotiating in good faith for weeks to try and end the simultaneous pay and jobs crises for resident doctors.

"Frustratingly we had been making good progress right up until the point, in the last two weeks, when the Government began to shift the goalposts.

"As talks progressed it became clear that the money proposed for pay increases was now going to be spread over three years.

"This is combined with today's pay review body (DDRB) recommendation of a 3.5% uplift pointing to yet more years in which our pay, at best, barely treads water.

"We have made abundantly clear throughout this dispute that our aim is pay restoration, and any deal that did not move us substantially in that direction was not going to fly."

Last month, resident doctors voted to continue industrial action for another six months.

A huge 93.4% of them voted for the further action, the British Medical Association announced.

'Awards are above inflation'

Health Secretary, West Streeting, previously described striking resident doctors as "irresponsible and dangerous".

At a speech earlier on Wednesday, he said: "Under our predecessors, there was an acceptance that when doctors go on strike, planned operations just get cancelled, as if these were pain-free, consequence-free cancellations for patients.

"We didn't accept that and we made the safety case for maintaining planned care, keeping 95% of activity going, even during strikes."

He said he had formally accepted the pay recommendations.

Mr Streeting added: "This means over 165,000 doctors working in the hospital and community health sector will receive a 3.5% pay rise.

"These awards are above forecast inflation over the 2026/27 pay year, meaning that the government is delivering a real-terms pay rise, on top of those in preceding years, underlining the extent to which we value our doctors and dentists."

Stuart Andrew MP, Shadow Health Secretary, said: "Labour gave junior doctors a 28% pay rise and promised to end the strikes yet strikes continue. Keir Starmer's failure to resolve this has cost taxpayers millions and left patients in the lurch.

"As the NHS braces for another round of walkouts, it is clear stronger action is needed. If Keir Starmer had the backbone to stand up to the militant BMA, patients would not be held hostage.

"Only the Conservatives have common sense plans to ban doctors' strikes to protect both patients and the public finances."

The suspects - aged 47 and 45 - were arrested on Wednesday morning at addresses in the north west London and central London areas respectively.

They were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life and both men have been taken to a London police station where they currently remain in police custody.

Officers are carrying out searches at the two addresses, understood to be in areas near Kilburn and Kings Cross.

The arrests are linked to the ongoing investigation into an arson attack on four ambulances run by Hatzola, a Jewish volunteer-led service, at around 1.35am on Monday.

Metropolitan Police said CCTV footage showed three hooded individuals pouring accelerant on the parked vehicles adding that the investigation "very much remains active".

The fire happened right next to the Machzike Hadath Synagogue, in Golders Green, north London, where the ambulances were parked.

Residents reported being woken in the early hours by loud bangs after gas canisters stored in the ambulances exploded. The force of the explosions blew out windows, including those of the synagogue, and nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.

Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, which is leading the investigation, said: "We have been working around the clock since this appalling attack took place and this has led to these arrests being made this morning.

"This appears to be an important breakthrough in the investigation, but we're also mindful that CCTV footage of the incident suggests there were at least three people involved.

"We fully recognise the local community will still be concerned and our investigation very much remains active and we will continue to work to identify and seek to arrest all of those who may have been involved.

"I'd like to thank the public and particularly the local Jewish community in the area for their continued support and reiterate our appeal to anyone who might have information that could assist with the investigation to get in touch with us."

The Community Security Trust, a charity created to provide security to the Jewish community, welcomed the arrests, saying in a statement: "We are grateful to the officers who have worked tirelessly to find those accountable.

"While this development is an important step forward, we know the community will understandably remain concerned.

"Police security measures and CST's own security operations will therefore remain at their current high level, with continued strong cooperation between CST and the police to protect our community."

Islamist group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI) has claimed responsibility online for the attack, which police have said is so far being treated as an antisemitic hate crime rather than a terror attack.

The newly formed group is believed to be aligned with Iran and appears to have posted a video on Telegram showing a map of the location of the attack and the ambulances on fire.

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The Metropolitan Police said earlier this week that detectives were aware of the claim of responsibility and were working to determine its authenticity.

Blunt, the MP for Reigate in Surrey between 1997 and 2024, admitted four counts of possessing drugs, including crystal meth, at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

He has been fined £1200 with a £480 victim surcharge and £200 costs.

Blunt, a justice minister in the Cameron administration between 2010 and 2012, made a 30 minute speech during which he told the court he should never have faced criminal charges.

He said he had considered taking the case to a jury trial, to argue that he should be acquitted on the basis that the charges of possession of drugs should not exist.

His house in Horley, Surrey, was raided by police in October 2023 in relation to separate allegations of rape, which were later dropped.

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Blunt told the court on Wednesday that possession of drugs charges against a first-time offender usually end with an out-of-court caution, and hinted at a belief that his political views on drugs reform, trans rights, and support for Palestinians may lie behind the case brought against him.

He also suggested former prime minister Rishi Sunak was "complicit in war crimes" over his support for Israel after the October 7 atrocity.

Prosecutor Zarah Dickinson told the court: "It was the first time he had come out as a gay man, and during his ministerial role he saw first hand the harm caused by the government's drug policy."

She added: "He began to take a professional interest in a policy that inflicted lasting harm on society.

"Then he began his involving in the chemsex scene.

"His knowledge of first hand use of drugs was used to inform how policies could be implemented."

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According to Ms Dickinson, Blunt was "polite" and "calm" when his house was raided - and pointed out the drugs to officers.

During his interview, Blunt explained how he would host chemsex parties and how the use of GBL would be limited to once per hour.

Dickinson said crystal meth worth between £200 and £250 was found on Blunt's bedside, as well as around £200 of GBL in a syringe in a laptop bag.

Cannabis worth less than £10 was also found, alongside weighing scales with residue from powders on them.

Ms Dickinson said the investigation began following "offences alleged to have occurred during a chemsex party at Mr Blunt's home address in September 2023".

The 65-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing drugs - one count of class A and three of class B - at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The drugs he admitted having were the sedative GBL, alongside cannabis, methamphetamine and methylamphetamine - the last of which is currently known as crystal meth.

Blunt told Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram on Wednesday that he believes politicians have failed to properly consider drug policy reform.

They have "sat with moral simplicity that drugs are bad, they are banned, without regard to the appalling consequences of that simple position", he said. "It keeps politicians safe on the moral high ground."

Following the raid on his house in 2023, Blunt announced he would not be standing in the 2024 general election.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is looking at how Hertfordshire Constabulary dealt with the allegations after the case was closed in 2019, following a four-year probe.

It added it was investigating a former detective constable for gross misconduct, relating to alleged failures to investigate, and two former detective sergeants who supervised the investigation.

The reports were made by three women, who all allege the professional kickboxer used sexual violence against them.

'We are grateful'

In a joint statement issued by their legal team, they said: "We are grateful that the IOPC has taken steps to investigate potential issues with how our reports were handled.

"From the beginning, all we have wanted is for our cases and the evidence to be fully and fairly considered by those with the power to do so."

An IOPC spokesperson said :"We are independently investigating the actions and decision making of Hertfordshire Constabulary following multiple reports of sexual offending by a man, which was first reported to the force in 2015.

"Our investigation began following a voluntary conduct referral from the force in December 2023.

"As part of our investigation, we are investigating a former detective constable for potential gross misconduct, relating to alleged failures to properly investigate, and two former detective sergeants at the level of misconduct, who supervised the investigation."

Civil trial

Tate's three alleged victims have since taken their claims to the High Court, alongside a fourth woman who also alleges he used sexual violence against them.

The civil trial is due to take place in June this year.

According to court documents, the influencer is accused of holding a gun to a woman's face before saying "you're going to do as I say or there'll be hell to pay".

One of the claimants also alleges Tate assaulted her with a belt, and grabbed her by the throat on multiple occasions, in 2015.

According to the documents, other alleged victims said he strangled them during sex while saying things like "I'm just debating whether to rape you or not" and "who do you belong to?".

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Denial

Tate's lawyers have previously denied the claims, describing the allegations as "false" and that they "were not controlled and did not behave as though they were controlled" by him.

A spokesperson for the influencer also said, at the time, that the allegations outlined in the documents are "unproven and untested".

The legal team of the three women who reported alleged abuse to police, McCue Jury & Partners, said the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) decision not to authorise charges in the case is currently the subject of a victim's right to review.

The new archbishop marked the start of her job as the Church of England's top ministry in a ceremony on Wednesday in Canterbury Cathedral.

The event marked the beginning of her public ministry as both the head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The ceremony was attended by over 2,000 people, including Prince William and the prime minister.

Representatives from many of the communion's 42 member churches, as well as representatives from the Vatican and the Orthodox Church, also attended.

Dame Mullally is the 106th person to fill the position, and broke into a broad smile as those gathered greeted her as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

The St John's Bible was used by the new archbishop for her Corporal Oath - the first time this Bible has been used in this way.

She was named to the role last October, and confirmed in it by a ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral in January, but Wednesday marked the symbolic start of her tenure.

The Dean of Canterbury, Very Reverend David Monteith, said the first female archbishop "would have almost been unimaginable even 50 years ago".

"Today matters," he said.

Her appointment to the role is not the first time that the 63-year-old has been a trailblazer.

The archbishop previously worked as a cancer nurse, becoming the chief nursing officer for England at the age of 37, the youngest person ever to hold the post.

In a nod to her former career, the archbishop secured her ceremonial cloak with a buckle from the belt she wore as a nurse.

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At the age of 40, she became a priest; 23 years later, she now heads another English organisation.

Her meteoric rise is notable.

The English church only ordained its first female priests in 1994, and its first female bishop in 2015.

She was named a bishop in 2015, becoming the fourth woman in the Church of England to reach that rank.

Three years later, she was named bishop of London, a prominent position within the church.

She will be aware that her appointment may deepen rifts within the Anglican Communion.

Members are deeply divided over issues such as the role of women and the treatment of LGBT+ people.

Dame Mullally replaces former Archbishop Justin Welby.

Her predecessor announced his resignation in November 2024, after he was criticised for failing to act decisively and tell police about allegations of physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at a church-affiliated summer camp.

One of her first tasks will be to confront concerns that the church failed to stamp out the sexual abuse scandals that have dogged it for more than a decade.