Anti-strikes bill to be introduced to Parliament

The government will introduce a bill to Parliament on Tuesday which would ensure public sector services maintain minimum safety levels during strike action.

Under the proposals, some trade union members would be required to continue working during a strike.

Downing Street said the new legislation was necessary to "protect the public".

But unions have condemned it and threatened legal action, while Labour says it would repeal it.

It comes amid a wave of industrial action across the public sector as workers seek pay rises in the face of the rising cost of living.

A series of meetings between government ministers and union bosses took place on Monday.

Ambulance staff - who are members of the GMB union - are preparing to walkout on Wednesday, after talks between the government and health service unions ended without a breakthrough.

Laws requiring a minimum level of service during industrial action were already promised for public transport as part of the Conservative's 2019 election manifesto. A bill was introduced to Parliament in October.

But the government is now seeking to extend this requirement to five other areas - the NHS, education, fire and rescue, border security, and nuclear decommissioning.

To meet minimum staffing levels - which are still to be announced - employers would be able to issue a "work notice" stating the workforce they need.

Employees named on the work notice would lose their right to protection from unfair dismissal if they then went on strike.

Consultations over what the minimum levels for each sector might look like are due to start imminently.

Business Secretary Grant Shapps, who will table the bill to the House of Commons, said: "There has to be a minimum safety level that people can expect even on strike days - particularly in areas like healthcare, making sure that an ambulance can turn up for example - that's very patchwork at the moment."

Ministers have argued that this proposed legislation is similar to existing laws in other modern European economies.

MPs will get a chance to debate the bill at its second reading next week.

Any legislation would not have an impact on strikes this month, which are still set to go ahead.

But even in the likelihood the bill makes it through the House of Commons, where the Conservatives have a sizeable majority, it is expected to face greater opposition in the House of Lords where the numbers are less favourable.

Labour's Jonathan Ashworth criticised the proposed legislation, saying the way to resolve disputes is through "proper negotiation".

Minimum services rules have been tried in other countries and "it's never worked", he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

And Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting warned the legislation could result in NHS staff being sacked.

Addressing the Commons on Monday, Mr Streeting said: "Let me ask the secretary of state this: in the 'NHS sacking the staff Bill', how many nurses is he planning to sack? How many paramedics is he going to sack? How many junior doctors is he going to sack?"

The proposals have also drawn condemnation from unions who have threatened a legal challenge.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak described the bill as "an attack on the right to strike", adding: "It's an attack on working people, and it's an attack on one of our longstanding British liberties."