British Medical Association (BMA) members will walk out from 07:00 BST on 27 June - a week before election day. The union said it was taking action as there had been no credible new offer after fresh talks started in mid-May. But ministers accused the BMA of cynical tactics for calling walkout during election campaign.
The BMA has asked for a 35% pay rise to make up for what it says is 15 years of below-inflation pay rises. Junior doctors received a pay rise averaging nearly 9% in the last financial year. The BMA walked out of talks last year during which an extra 3% pay rise on top was discussed.
This will be the 11th walkout by junior doctors in this dispute after their first strike in March 2023. The last one took place in February. It will see junior doctors walk out of all services, with senior doctors having to be drafted in to provide cover.
That will cause huge disruption to elective services, such as routine operations, days before the general election. Junior doctors represent nearly half the doctor workforce in the NHS - with two thirds members of the BMA. BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said: "We made clear to the government that we would strike unless discussions ended in a credible pay offer.
"For more than 18 months we have been asking Rishi Sunak to put forward proposals to restore the pay junior doctors have lost over the past 15 years." They added: "When we entered mediation with government this month we did so.
