Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – led by the British Medical Association (BMA) began a five-day strike on Friday morning, set to last until 7am on Wednesday. Health secretary Wes Streeting said on Thursday evening that strike action should have been a “last resort”,

A five-day doctors' strike due to start in England on Friday by members of the British Medical Association will go ahead, the union says. Five days of talks between the government and the BMA had raised hopes of a breakthrough, focused on improving working conditions for resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors.