Rishi Sunak today threatened a raft of new laws to muzzle striking workers.
Instead of inflaming tensions the Prime Minister should try to understand why so many professions have been driven to take industrial action.
They have taken this step not out of greed but desperation. Nurses in England are among the worst paid in Europe.
After taking into account living costs, their average pay is £29,710 a year compared with £53,650 in Belgium, £43,580 in the Netherlands and £37,980 in Germany. When pay is so low it is hardly surprising nurses are leaving the NHS in their thousands.
It is not just NHS staff who are suffering. The PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said 40,000 of the union’s members were using foodbanks and 45,000 have to claim benefits.
Public sector workers desperately need a pay rise. This Government should stop itching for a fight and start searching for a settlement.
Matt finished
If Matt Hancock had any honour he would quit Parliament immediately.
The Tory MP was elected to serve the constituents of his West Suffolk constituency.
Since 2014 child poverty in Suffolk has increased by 26% and nearly one in seven people in the county are living in fuel poverty.
Instead of representing these people the former Health Secretary bunked off to the I’m A Celebrity jungle, spent time filming SAS: Who Dares Wins and writing his diary – all in return for hefty pay cheques.
He is now on the lookout for further TV work as he prepares to leave the Commons in 2024. Voters is West Suffolk deserve better.
They deserve a full-time MP who is dedicated to their needs, not a wannabe B-lister whose only interest is his own advancement.
The mane man
Celeb barber Ahmed Alsanawi has flown to Qatar to keep the England team in trim.
Let’s hope the Three Lions’ players are a cut above their rivals and turn on the style when they play France on Saturday.
