Government services set to grind to a halt with public sector strikes

‘Extraordinary disruption’ to hit more than 120 government departments and public bodies

Britain faces “extraordinary disruption” at its borders and crucial government services grinding to a halt if planned public sector strikes go ahead.

Some 100,000 civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union have voted to strike this winter in a dispute over pay, meaning disruption at airports and key ports like Dover, logjams in issuing passports and driving licences, and potential delays to benefit payments if strikes go ahead.

It comes as the government dismissed the Royal College of Nursing’s demand of a 17.6 per cent pay rise as “unreasonable”, after the union announced its first nationwide strike in its 106-year history on Wednesday.