A "potential agreement" has been reached between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government which could lead to strike action being suspended, the Health Secretary has said.

Jeremy Hunt told MPs in the Commons there had been a "time-limited" agreement made this afternoon for further talks, where the BMA would suspend strike action if the Government agrees not to impose a new contract on doctors.

He said this was now sitting with members of the BMA's junior doctors' committee to see whether they could support it.

But he said strikes across England planned for tomorrow at 8am are still due to go ahead.

He said: "I'm pleased to report to the House after working through the weekend, discussions led to a potential agreement early this afternoon between the BMA leadership and the Government.

"This agreement would allow a time-limited period during which negotiations can take place and during which the BMA agrees to suspend strike action and the Government agrees not to proceed unilaterally with implementing a new contract.

"This agreement is now sitting with the BMA junior doctors executive committee who will decide later today if they're able to support it."

Four days of talks between the BMA, Government officials and NHS Employers - hosted by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) - have resulted in the new tentative settlement.

Doctors are poised to take action on three days over pay and working conditions, providing emergency care only for 24 hours from 8am on Tuesday followed by full walkouts from 8am to 5pm on December 8 and 16.

The action would cause mass disruption to the NHS, with hospitals forced to cancel outpatient clinics and non-urgent operations.

NHS England estimates that between 3,000 and 3,400 operations and procedures have already been scrapped for Tuesday - the first of three days of industrial action.

Some 98% of more than 37,000 doctors balloted by the BMA voted in favour of strikes.

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

Mr Hunt previously 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.

Mr Hunt argues that, under the new deal, just 1% of doctors would lose pay and those would be limited to doctors working too many hours already.

The BMA has said the increase in basic pay is misleading due to the changes to pay for unsocial hours. It also has other concerns over flexible pay plans for some specialities.

Mr Hunt told MPs that NHS England had estimated that - across all three days of planned action - up to 20,000 patients may have operations cancelled, including around 1,500 cataracts operations, 900 skin lesion removals, 630 hip and knee operations, 400 spine operations, 250 gall bladder removals and nearly 300 tonsil and grommets operations.

He said that contingency plans for December 8 and 16 - when junior doctors will not work at all, including in emergency care - was focused on staffing at major trauma centres and trusts "where we have concerns about patient safety".

He added: "All trusts will have to cancel considerable quantities of elective care in order to free up consultant capacity and beds.

"So far the BMA has not been willing to provide assurances they will ask their members to provide urgent and emergency cover in areas where patients may be at risk and we will continue to press for such assurance."