BMA Resident Doctors Committee deputy chair, Dr Arjan Nagra, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘It is a negotiating tool, but we've got no intention of actually using it. I would say our relationship with government over the last few months has become increasingly positive.'

He added: ‘The atmosphere in the room, I'd say, is quite positive, people are working in a constructive manner. So I am hopeful. Maybe I am being naively optimistic, but I am optimistic.'

Dr Nagra said the Government was ‘making serious progress' on the union's dispute over training jobs, with the ‘excellent' Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill, which will prioritise doctors from the UK and Ireland, and those who have worked in the NHS for a significant period, for specialty training places. However, he described it as the ‘bare minimum'.

In addition, he said the union's demands for a large pay increase had ‘a long way to go', but ‘there's a framework there we can build on'.