Hundreds of soldiers will be deployed THIS WEEK to help the NHS ahead of industrial action

Hundreds of troops will be deployed to hospitals this week to help maintain vital services during a fortnight of reckless strikes ahead of Christmas.

Military personnel will begin emergency training at hospital trusts across the country to enable them to drive ambulances during a planned walkout by paramedics next week.

Ministers will convene the government’s Cobra emergency committee tomorrow to finalize contingency plans to deal with a planned strike by nurses on Thursday and further walkouts by railway and postal workers aimed at bringing the country to a standstill. approaching Christmas.

Troops are already being trained to replace Border Force airport guards, who threaten scheduled disruption days to smash families’ plans to move away over the festive period.

Ministers will convene the government’s Cobra emergency committee tomorrow to finalize contingency plans to deal with a planned strike by nurses on Thursday

Motorway staff also plan to pull out in a series of rolling strikes designed to disrupt roads.

And the British Medical Association (BMA) warned yesterday that a strike by junior doctors in pursuit of a 26 per cent wage demand was ‘highly likely’.

As Britain faced its worst winter of industrial conflict in decades tonight:

• Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has indicated ministers could ban emergency service workers, including paramedics and firefighters, from going on strike;
• NHS medical director Sir Stephen Powis has warned the strikes are coming at the worst possible time as the health service faces an early flu outbreak and a new wave of Covid;
• Occupational health spokesman Wes Streeting admitted no government could meet the RCN’s extraordinary wage demands;
• Government sources said Rishi Sunak was convinced that caving in to union wage demands would “entrench” inflation for years, crippling living standards;
• Ministers have stepped up talks with railway chiefs over fears the strikes could affect ‘critical’ freight deliveries in areas such as energy;
• Meteorologists have warned that commuters struggling to get to work during rail strikes will face the worst winter weather, with freezing temperatures and snow expected;
• Labor MPs have bragged about joining picket lines in support of unions who have given the party £15m since Sir Keir Starmer became leader;
• Hospitality bosses have said rail strikes could cost the sector £1.5billion, with businesses canceling office parties because staff cannot go home.

Last night Cabinet Minister Oliver Dowden urged militant union leaders to call off ‘damaging’ strikes.

He said: ‘The position taken by the unions will unsettle millions of hardworking people over the next few weeks.

Mr Dowden, who will chair Cobra meetings on the strikes today and Wednesday, said ministers were working to keep disruption “to a minimum”, but acknowledged key services would suffer.

Protesters hold signs demanding fair pay for healthcare workers

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has indicated ministers could ban emergency service workers, including paramedics and firefighters, from going on strike

He said funding inflation-level pay rises for the entire public sector would cost the taxpayer £28billion, or nearly £1,000 per household.

“Of course we want to make sure people are paid fairly, but what’s not fair is for union bosses to endanger people’s livelihoods in order to push their wage demands to the fore. list,” he said. “Nor would it be fair to ask families to pay an extra £1,000 a year to meet union demands.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the strikes would create “significant risks” for patients.

The Royal College of Nursing, which is demanding a 19 per cent pay rise, said yesterday it knew its demands were unreasonable, with sources saying the union would settle for increases at or below inflation.

Mr Barclay said it was inevitable that patients would suffer. He told The Sun: ‘In a winter where we are worried about Covid, flu and Strep A – in addition to Covid backlogs – I am deeply concerned about the risk of strikes for patients.’

Sir Stephen said there were ‘problems brewing this winter’ for the NHS but patients in need of urgent care would still be seen.

Emma Runswick, vice-chairman of the BMA Council, said junior doctors had taken a pay cut in real terms of 26% since 2008. Challenged by the scale of the extraordinary pay demand, she told Sky News: “ It’s only as steep as the money that was cut from us.

Mr Cleverly confirmed that the Prime Minister was working on measures to strengthen strike laws, including potentially widening the ban on police knocking to other emergency services.

“It’s the government’s first duty to make sure people are protected,” he told Times Radio.