UK ministers co-ordinate response to historic strike disruption

UK ministers met on Monday to co-ordinate a response to one of the most disruptive weeks of strike action in recent history, as concerns mount over emergency cover when ambulance workers walk out on Wednesday.

Downing Street urged striking ambulance staff to give more clarity on plans for emergency cover ahead of their walkout on Wednesday and said that prime minister Rishi Sunak “deeply regrets” that the action was going ahead.

Nurses, customs and immigration staff as well as postal and rail workers will also walk out in the coming days, leaving ministers with a growing logistical and political problem.

Ministers attending the Cobra emergency committee discussed how to keep the country’s vital national services going, with the army on standby to provide ambulance cover.

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has said ministers would have two days after Tuesday’s strikes to engage with pay talks, after which the union is expected to announce fresh strikes in the new year.

Christina McAnea, general secretary of the Unison union, which represents many NHS staff, said ministers had refused to discuss “the elephant in the room” — pay — in recent meetings.

“None of our members want to be on strike,” she told the BBC on Monday. “The government has been completely intransigent.”

Public support for the strike action by health workers remains relatively strong and some Tory MPs have urged Sunak to raise the pay offer to NHS workers. In July, the independent NHS Pay Review Body recommended a £1,400 increase for most NHS staff.

But Downing Street pushed back on Monday and said health secretary Steve Barclay was prepared to discuss “non-pay issues” with NHS unions, but insisted it wanted to honour the award proposed by an independent pay review body.

“It would be irresponsible to push ahead with double-digit pay awards,” Sunak’s spokesperson said. Asked whether the government had considered offering NHS staff a one-off payment to help settle the dispute, the spokesperson added: “There are no plans currently.”

McAnea said that “trust has broken down” with the government. “They would have to come up with more than ‘let’s talk about this’ for us to call off the strike,” she said.

The Unison leader said that unions were working with local NHS trusts to come up with a plan to provide “life and limb” ambulance cover during the dispute on Wednesday.

She acknowledged that because hospitals were making advanced preparations to handle emergencies during the strike, those cases could be seen more quickly than in normal circumstances.

Sunak has so far refused to make pay offers that go beyond the ones proposed by independent pay review bodies, insisting that public sector pay restraint is needed to bear down on inflation.

But a wave of strikes through the winter could corrode support for his government, particularly in disputes where the public — at least for now — support those on the picket lines, particularly health workers.

Meanwhile, military leaders have expressed concern that armed forces personnel are being used to fill in for striking workers.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defence staff, told the Sunday Telegraph the military should not be treated as “spare capacity” during strikes.

He said they should focus on their “primary role” and it would be “slightly perilous” to treat them as the “ultimate backstop” for industrial disputes.

About 600 personnel will drive vehicles and another 150 will give “logistical support” as about 10,000 ambulance staff in England and Wales strike on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, rail passengers were warned of more disruption either side of the long Christmas weekend.

Infrastructure operator Network Rail urged people to complete their journeys by 3pm at the latest on Christmas Eve, as members of the RMT union go on strike until early on December 27.

The walkout will target the planned large-scale annual engineering works carried out on Christmas Day, when no services run, and Boxing Day, when normally very few trains run. Network Rail said the RMT action meant no services would be able to operate on December 26.

Train operators have also warned passengers of short-notice disruption to services either side of Christmas until the first week of January because of a union overtime ban.