Grant Shapps is Business Secretary, and is MP for Welwyn.
When unions decide to strike, as Aslef and others, have chosen to do again this week, it impacts everyone. From members of the public who rely on essential services to get to work or care for their family, to the NHS working hard to reduce the Covid backlog, and schools trying to recover lost learning after the pandemic. Local businesses see a drop in sales and productivity – and striking workers themselves forfeit pay at a time when the costs of living are rising.
Every one of us works hard and expects access to essential, and life-saving services, when they need them. But at the moment, that is not happening. The unions are trying to disrupt the lives of ordinary hard-working people, and not serving their members’ interests.
All of us, public and private sector alike, pay the price of high inflation – and inflation-busting pay rises would make it worse. And while the Conservative Government is trying to keep the country moving, and give voters the confidence they need to go about their day, Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and the entire parliamentary Labour Party are squarely in the pocket of their union paymasters, acting as their mouthpiece in Parliament, and forgetting who they should really work for.
While we are taking proportionate and sensible steps to make sure that you can still get an ambulance in your time of need, call the fire brigade in an emergency, or get a train to work, Labour is playing dog-whistle politics by peddling lies that our actions are all a ploy to sack nurses. It’s not only incorrect to suggest this, but dangerous.
The reality is that we have specifically praised nurses for their responsible response in agreeing voluntary cover when some have taken industrial action, and we have no plans to change this approach.
But we are placing the onus on the unions to uphold the minimum service levels set for specific sectors, and once our Bill to ensure this happens is enacted, the British public will also expect unions to act responsibly, and to take reasonable steps to make sure essential services continue even during strikes.
What we are doing isn’t radical, or even new. Indeed, some may have wanted to go further, as they have in such countries as Canada, Australia and some American states, where workers in emergency services are banned from striking altogether.
In fact, in this country, the only blue light service to have strikes banned was the police in 1919 – by a Liberal Prime Minister. And when Labour touts this myth that we are trying to sack workers, I would remind them that not a single member of the police has ever lost their job as a result of that sensible, restricted right to strike.
But we aren’t doing that. We simply want to balance the ability of workers to strike and to keep the lives and livelihoods of the British public safe, and so align ourselves with many of our European partners, like France and Spain.
Setting a minimum level for service across key public services is not only reasonable and proportionate, but safe. And it is the first duty of any government to keep citizens safe from harm.
Meanwhile, Labour clearly put the relationship with their union paymasters over the safety of this country. We all saw how empty Opposition benches in the Chamber were when we were taking action on small boats, and how full their benches when they were told by their paymasters to turn up. They are a party of protest, and Starmer doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to the unions.
This isn’t just a cheap political shot, but it’s backed up by numbers. Over £125 million has been donated by the unions to Labour MPs since 2010. That is a staggering amount which clearly shows who is pulling their strings – and if you think it would be any different if they ever get the keys to No10 Downing Street, you have another thing coming. They’ve also said they would withdraw every piece of trade union legislation.
Grant Shapps is Business Secretary, and is MP for Welwyn.
When unions decide to strike, as Aslef and others, have chosen to do again this week, it impacts everyone. From members of the public who rely on essential services to get to work or care for their family, to the NHS working hard to reduce the Covid backlog, and schools trying to recover lost learning after the pandemic. Local businesses see a drop in sales and productivity – and striking workers themselves forfeit pay at a time when the costs of living are rising.
Every one of us works hard and expects access to essential, and life-saving services, when they need them. But at the moment, that is not happening. The unions are trying to disrupt the lives of ordinary hard-working people, and not serving their members’ interests.
All of us, public and private sector alike, pay the price of high inflation – and inflation-busting pay rises would make it worse. And while the Conservative Government is trying to keep the country moving, and give voters the confidence they need to go about their day, Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and the entire parliamentary Labour Party are squarely in the pocket of their union paymasters, acting as their mouthpiece in Parliament, and forgetting who they should really work for.
While we are taking proportionate and sensible steps to make sure that you can still get an ambulance in your time of need, call the fire brigade in an emergency, or get a train to work, Labour is playing dog-whistle politics by peddling lies that our actions are all a ploy to sack nurses. It’s not only incorrect to suggest this, but dangerous.
The reality is that we have specifically praised nurses for their responsible response in agreeing voluntary cover when some have taken industrial action, and we have no plans to change this approach.
But we are placing the onus on the unions to uphold the minimum service levels set for specific sectors, and once our Bill to ensure this happens is enacted, the British public will also expect unions to act responsibly, and to take reasonable steps to make sure essential services continue even during strikes.
What we are doing isn’t radical, or even new. Indeed, some may have wanted to go further, as they have in such countries as Canada, Australia and some American states, where workers in emergency services are banned from striking altogether.
In fact, in this country, the only blue light service to have strikes banned was the police in 1919 – by a Liberal Prime Minister. And when Labour touts this myth that we are trying to sack workers, I would remind them that not a single member of the police has ever lost their job as a result of that sensible, restricted right to strike.
But we aren’t doing that. We simply want to balance the ability of workers to strike and to keep the lives and livelihoods of the British public safe, and so align ourselves with many of our European partners, like France and Spain.
Setting a minimum level for service across key public services is not only reasonable and proportionate, but safe. And it is the first duty of any government to keep citizens safe from harm.
Meanwhile, Labour clearly put the relationship with their union paymasters over the safety of this country. We all saw how empty Opposition benches in the Chamber were when we were taking action on small boats, and how full their benches when they were told by their paymasters to turn up. They are a party of protest, and Starmer doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to the unions.
This isn’t just a cheap political shot, but it’s backed up by numbers. Over £125 million has been donated by the unions to Labour MPs since 2010. That is a staggering amount which clearly shows who is pulling their strings – and if you think it would be any different if they ever get the keys to No10 Downing Street, you have another thing coming. They’ve also said they would withdraw every piece of trade union legislation.