Labour axes ‘gimmick’ anti-strike law as it plans major reset for workers’ rights

Memo tells ministers to disregard minimum service levels rules, as part of reforms to reorder industrial relations

The government will begin the task of rolling back years of anti-trade union laws within days, the Observer can reveal, as ministers are ordered to ignore a key measure passed by the Tories as part of a wider “reset” of industrial relations in Britain.

As a first step, departments will be told effectively to ignore a law passed last year designed to force workers across a series of industries to provide a minimum level of service during strikes. The legislation – described as a “pointless gimmick” by ministers – paved the way to severely curtail the rights of border security, ambulance services, fire and rescue, teachers and rail services to take industrial action.

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English hospitals brace for ‘alarming’ disruption as GPs go on strike

Exclusive: A&Es and mental health services face ‘dangerous’ surge that could continue into 2025, say bosses

The NHS faces “alarming” and “dangerous” disruption until Christmas and potentially into 2025, health chiefs have said, after GPs began their first industrial action in 60 years amid a major row over funding.

Hospitals, A&E units and mental health services are already under huge pressure. They are now braced for a surge in demand from thousands of patients turning to them for help after family doctors in England launched work-to-rule action on Thursday.

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Winter fuel payments to be restricted as Reeves says there is £22bn spending shortfall – UK politics live

Chancellor suggests budget, on 30 October, will involve tax rises and cuts to spending and benefits

Downing Street has refused to comment on a report saying junior doctors are being offered a pay rise worth about 20% over two years.

In a story for the Times, Steven Swinford reports:

The British Medical Association’s (BMA) junior doctors committee has recommended an offer that includes a backdated pay rise of 4.05 per cent for 2023-24, on top of an existing increase of between 8.8 per cent and 10.3 per cent.

Junior doctors will be given a further pay rise of 6 per cent for 2024-25, which will be topped up by a consolidated £1,000 payment. This is equivalent to a pay rise of between 7 per cent and 9 per cent.

As we’ve said before, we’re committed to working to find a solution, resolving this dispute, but I can’t get into detailed running commentary on negotiations.

We’ve been honest with the public and the sector about the economic circumstances we face. But the government is determined to do the hard work necessary to finally bring these strikes to an end.

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Wes Streeting says NHS is broken as he announces pay talks with junior doctors

New health secretary aims to resolve dispute in England and warns health service is ‘not good enough’

The new health secretary, Wes Streeting, has declared the NHS is broken as he announced that talks with junior doctors in England would restart next week.

The Ilford North MP said patients were not receiving the care they deserved and the performance of the NHS was “not good enough”.

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Junior doctors’ strike could delay care for 100,000 NHS patients in England

Rishi Sunak says timing of action days before general election appears to be ‘politically motivated’ to help Labour

Up to 100,000 patients in England face having their NHS care cancelled days before the general election after junior doctors announced a fresh wave of strike action, with Rishi Sunak saying it appeared to be politically motivated.

Health leaders expressed alarm, warning the five-day strike would jeopardise efforts to tackle the record waiting list and “hit patients hard”.

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Train strikes to halt most trains in south-east England on Tuesday

Commuter routes in and out of London hit as train drivers begin three days of rolling strikes amid six-day overtime ban

Most trains will not run in south-east England on Tuesday – including on key commuter routes in and out of London – after train drivers embarked on three days of rolling strikes at national rail operators.

Drivers in the Aslef union are striking for 24 hours at each English operator between Tuesday and Thursday, while continuing a week-long nationwide overtime ban that started on Monday, as part of a long-running pay dispute.

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Rail strikes restart as Aslef train drivers embark on new action

Union to roll out 24-hour strikes across England’s train operators for three days this week and six-day overtime ban from Monday

Rail passengers face a week of disruption as train drivers embark on another round of industrial action on Monday, despite tentative attempts by the industry to restart talks.

Drivers in the Aslef union will strike for 24 hours at each of England’s national train operators over the course of three days from Tuesday until Thursday, while an overtime ban will apply nationwide from Monday until Saturday.

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Train drivers in England begin three-day series of strikes

Avanti West Coast services among those affected by Aslef industrial action, which continues on Saturday and Monday

Rail passengers across England will face significant disruption on Friday as train drivers at five operating companies carry out industrial action.

The 24-hour strike will be the first of three days of rolling strike action being taken by the train drivers’ union Aslef, with services on Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway all affected.

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Education ‘will grind to halt’ unless pay rises address recruitment crisis, union leader warns – UK politics live

National Education Union leader says morale among teachers is at ‘an all time low’ in radio interview

There is widespread agreement in the UK and the US that Israel has “gone too far” in its war against Hamas, Darren Jones, a Labour Treasury spokesperson, said this morning.

In an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Jones said:

I think what we’ve seen from President Biden, from Keir Starmer, and now from Lord Cameron, our own foreign secretary, is that countries that supported Israel’s right to defend itself and to recover its hostages from Hamas terrorists in Gaza, which clearly is their right to have done in the first place, have all said that you’ve gone too far, that we need to bring this war to an end, we need to get around the negotiating table, we need to aid to get to people who desperately need it in Gaza.

This latest situation, not only has it resulted in the death of aid workers, which is unacceptable, but it’s now making it much harder for aid to be made available to people who are in the most desperate situations.

The fact of the matter is if the UK, for example, stopped supplying arms, the war would not end. What we need to do is get the parties to a position where the fighting can stop.

As always, on questions of international law, it’s for judges and courts to make that decision, not for politicians.

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Gillian Keegan criticises union for ‘inappropriate’ Israel-Palestine motion

Education secretary says conference proposals describing Israeli government as racist ‘reflect NEU’s divisive ideology’

Gillian Keegan has strongly criticised the National Education Union over a motion to be debated at its annual conference describing Israel’s government as “racist” and “guilty of apartheid policies”.

The education secretary said the motion and amendments were “wholly inappropriate and completely ignore the horrific terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October … These motions reflect the NEU’s divisive ideology, which I don’t believe is representative of our teachers.

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Goldsmiths academics to strike over ‘incomprehensible’ redundancies

Union says cuts will make the creative powerhouse unrecognisable and risk unprecedented industrial unrest

Staff at Goldsmiths, University of London have voted to strike over plans for an “almost incomprehensible” number of redundancies, a trade union has announced.

More than 87% of University and College Union (UCU) members at the south London institution voted for strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 69%, as well as backing action short of a strike, such as a boycott on marking papers and submissions.

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Heathrow Border Force staff vote to strike in dispute over shift patterns

No dates announced for industrial action, but stoppages could begin as soon as 8 April, says PCS union

Border Force staff at Heathrow have voted to strike in a dispute over shift patterns.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said 600 of its members, who carry out immigration controls and passport checks, voted 90% in favour of strike action.

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Junior doctors in England vote to continue striking until mid-September

BMA members overwhelmingly back further stoppages and overtime bans in long-running pay dispute

Junior doctors in England have voted to keep on striking until the middle of September in their long-running pay dispute, bringing a fresh wave of disruption to the NHS.

Those belonging to the British Medical Association voted overwhelmingly to stage further stoppages in addition to the 41 days of strikes held since last March.

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Junior doctors in England to strike again after pay talks break down

BMA votes for further five days of action after meeting with health secretary fails to resolve grievances

Junior doctors are to stage fresh strike action in England for a 10th time after talks between their union and the government broke down again.

Ministers, health officials and representatives from the British Medical Association (BMA) had been locked in negotiations for weeks since last month’s record six-day stoppage, trying to find a resolution to the pay dispute.

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Rishi Sunak accused of personally holding up deal to end doctors’ strikes

Exclusive: Sources say PM has blocked talks due to concerns about knock-on effect of more generous pay offer

Rishi Sunak has been accused of personally holding up a deal to end doctors’ strikes in England despite warnings from the health department and NHS England that waiting lists will continue to soar unless the industrial dispute is resolved.

Sources told the Guardian it had been made “abundantly and repeatedly” clear to the prime minister that there would be no progress on his pledge to drive down NHS waiting lists until a deal was struck.

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Junior doctors want 35% pay increase over time, not immediately, says BMA leader – UK politics live

Co-chair says members ‘very happy to look over deals that would span a number of years’

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, has restated her call for the BMA to call off the junior doctors’ strike in England. Speaking to Sky News she said:

We’re very concerned about the consequences [the strike] will have, not just for this week of industrial action, but also in the weeks following, because consultants and other clinicians who are picking up the slack as junior doctors, doctors in training, are not at their work – that will be reflected in the weeks coming up with people trying to catch up with the lost time.

So it’s going to have a huge impact on our health system. My ask of the junior doctors committee is to call off these strikes and get back round the negotiating table.

Six days of Junior Doctor strikes in England, all because of a UK Government that chooses tax cuts for the wealthy over paying NHS staff fairly.

We have taken different choices in Scotland and avoided a single day of NHS strikes. Our budget gives the NHS a real-terms increase.

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Decoding the junior doctors’ strike – from patient safety to public support

Health bosses raise alarm as junior doctors begin the longest strike in NHS history. But how will the action actually affect patients?

Almost a year after the first strike over pay and conditions, junior doctors in England are going out on strike again for six days. (A pay deal has already been reached in Scotland, while doctors in Wales are due to strike later this month and those in Northern Ireland are being balloted.)

While the new health secretary, Victoria Atkins, is on slightly better terms with the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents junior doctors, than her predecessor, Steve Barclay, the doctors and the government are still a long way apart. As the two sides make their case, here’s some help with interpreting what they have to say.

Six days of strike action following bank holidays at a time of enormous pressure, there are real issues around patient safety”

NHS Confederation chief executive, Matthew Taylor, 23 December

Junior doctors’ pay has been cut by more than a quarter since 2008”

BMA website

The public know the only way to have a healthcare system that looks after them is to have enough doctors. And they can completely appreciate [that junior doctors’ pay] is just not enough”

Dr Vivek Trivedi, co-leader of the British Medical Association, 20 December

They have taken the decision to walk away from the discussions we were having, which were live”

The health secretary, Victoria Atkins, 13 December

I mean even recently the secretary of state has said they have a final offer to give. Well then give it and let’s solve the dispute”

Dr Rob Laurenson, co-leader of the British Medical Association, 30 December

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NHS bosses fear for patient safety during six-day junior doctor strike

Hospital bosses worry BMA will not honour agreement to return junior doctors to work in event of major incident

NHS bosses fear patient safety could be compromised during this week’s junior doctors strikes if medics do not honour an agreement to abandon picket lines if hospitals become overwhelmed during the winter crisis.

Hospital bosses can ask the British Medical Association (BMA) to allow junior doctors to return to work to help if an emergency arises during their six-day strike starting on Wednesday.

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Christmas getaway disruption continues amid Dover, road and rail delays

Eurostar and Eurotunnel services resume on Friday but drivers face 60-minute queue for French border controls

Christmas getaway disruption was continuing on Friday with long queues for cross-Channel journeys, motorway closures and train cancellations on one of the busiest days of the year for travel.

In the late afternoon the Port of Dover in Kent said it was taking about 60 minutes to process cars before French border controls.

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Cancer and maternity patients at risk if junior doctors strike in January, NHS bosses warn

NHS Employers writes to British Medical Association warning of dangers of proposed six-day stoppage

Patients have been harmed as a result of doctors striking this year, and others needing time-critical treatment will be at risk during next month’s walkout in England, hospital bosses have said.

Cancer patients and women having induced or caesarean section births will be in danger of damage to their health unless junior doctors in those areas of care abandon their plans to strike for six days in January, they said.

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