THOUSANDS of junior doctors in England have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strikes in a bitter row with the Government.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said 98 per cent voted in favour of strikes, with 2 per cent against and 11 spoilt ballot papers.

More than 37,000 doctors were balloted by the BMA, and 76 per cent took part in the vote.

Asked if they were prepared to take part in industrial action short of a strike, 28,120 (99.4 per cent of the vote) said yes.

Asked if they were prepared to take part in strike action, 27,741 voted yes (98 per cent of the vote) and 564 voted no (2 per cent).

The BMA said it was still keen to avoid strike action and had approached the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) for talks with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS Employers, which is running negotiations for the Government.

If a strike goes ahead, doctors will take action over three days, providing emergency care only for 24 hours from 8am on December 1, followed by full walkouts from 8am to 5pm on December 8 and 16.There is expected to be mass disruption to the NHS, with hospitals forced to cancel outpatient clinics and non-urgent operations.

Dr Mark Porter, chair of the BMA council, said: "We regret the inevitable disruption that this will cause but it is the Government's adamant insistence on imposing a contract that is unsafe for patients in the future, and unfair for doctors now and in the future, that has brought us to this point.

"Patients are doctors' first priority, which is why, even with such a resounding mandate, we are keen to avert the need for industrial action, which is why we have approached Acas to offer conciliatory talks with the Health Secretary and NHS Employers to clarify the conflicting information coming from Government over the past weeks.

The new contract is set to be imposed from next summer on doctors working up to consultant level.

Mr Hunt tried to avert strikes with a fresh deal, including an 11% rise in basic pay.

This is offset by plans to cut the number of hours on a weekend that junior doctors can claim extra pay for "unsocial" hours.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay.

Under the new plans, a higher rate would run from 10pm to 7am Monday to Friday, and from 7pm on Saturday evenings - a concession on the previous 10pm.

Other proposals are to replace the GP pay supplement - without which GPs would be paid on average around a third less than hospital trainees - and replace it with a "flexible pay premium".