Teachers and train drivers are among half a million workers walking out today on the biggest strike day seen in Britain for more than a decade.
Civil servants, university lecturers, bus drivers and security guards will join picket lines, while protests are set to be held across the country against the government’s controversial plans to legally enforce minimum service levels during strikes.
Downing Street said 600 military personnel as well as civil servants and volunteers across government have been trained to fill the gaps in public services.
Around 85 per cent of schools will be either fully or partially closed by strike action on Wednesday, the general secretary of the National Education Union said.
Speaking outside Bishop Thomas Grant School in Streatham, south London, Dr Mary Bousted told the BBC: “About 85 per cent of schools will be affected - either fully closed or partially closed - today.”
She said striking teachers have received “many” messages of support from parents.
“We are very sorry that parents have been so inconvenienced by this strike action,” she said.
