After ministers rebuffed an offer by nursing unions to suspend strikes in return for new pay negotiations, and with Cobra meetings due on Monday to work through controversial contingency plans involving the military, there is little reason to expect a reprieve from planned strikes.
Industrial action already under way in December among bus, rail and postal workers will intensify and broaden this week to others in the public sector including ambulance drivers, baggage handlers, and driving examiners. The result will be some of the most significant disruption to the British economy in recent memory.
