Closing Summary
Thanks for tuning into our live coverage of today’s strikes, the single biggest day of UK industrial action for more than a decade.
Up to half a million people participated in a coordinated strike today involving teachers, civil servants, border force staff and train drivers. Here’s a recap of the day:
One in eight schools and colleges in England and Wales were unaffected by today’s teachers’ strike, while 9% were closed entirely, according to a survey of head teachers carried out by the Association of School and College Leaders.
A majority of parents support strike action by teachers, despite the disruption it will cause them, according to a new poll by Parentkind, the membership organisation for parent-teacher associations. More than 1200 parents took part in the survey and over half (54%) said they supported strike action by National Education Union members, while only 36% opposed it.
At an NEU rally in Westminster, the RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, told thousands of striking teachers outside Downing Street “we are the working class, and we are back”. He added: “We are here, we are demanding change, we refuse to be bought, and we are going to win for our people on our terms.”
When asked what prime minister Rishi Sunak is doing to sort out the industrial action, his official spokesman said: “We want to have further talks with the unions. Some of those discussions have been constructive. We have to balance that against the need to be fair to all taxpayers, the majority of whom don’t work for the public sector.”
Civil servants covering for striking Border Force staff received just two days’ training before taking up their posts, the Guardian understands. Some NCA staff in Calais say they had little official training before being put to work at passport control
Union leaders have given the education secretary until the end of the month to ‘change her stance’. Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: “Today, we put the education secretary on notice. She has until our next strike day for England, 28 February, to change her stance.”
Thousands of students have joined striking university staff on picket lines across the country, the University and College Union (UCU) said. Jo Grady, UCU general secretary, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the support of thousands of students who have joined us on picket lines across the country.”
The former shadow chancellor has said public sector pay rises can be paid for by taxing capital gains at the same level as income. John McDonnell said: “We just need a fair taxation system. The issue at the moment is that we seem to have a Government that is redistributing wealth upwards.”
The TUC has not ruled out taking the government to court if the minimum service levels bill is passed into law. Trades Union Congress assistant general secretary Kate Bell said the legislation is “unnecessary, unfair and almost certainly illegal”.
The Welsh government education minister said the blame for the strikes lies with the UK government. As the government tries to resolve the dispute, Jeremy Miles said: “there are very real constraints on the Welsh government’s budget because of the frankly disgraceful position the UK government aren’t making enough funding available across the UK for public services.”
A deal that would bring an end to strikes is “further away than when we started” following months of failed negotiations with the government, said the Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan. “This isn’t a new government – the same people have been in place for 12 years,” he told PA Media.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “I think Gillian Keegan [the education secretary] is hoping our strike is ineffective and people won’t do it again.” He added: “I think she’s wrong about that. There could be further action. She needs to do a deal so that that doesn’t happen.”
The National Education Union stands ready to negotiate once the education secretary “gets her act together and her story straight”, said union chief Mary Bousted. “Unfortunately about 85% of schools will be impacted for a strike that didn’t need to happen if the government had been prepared to negotiate,” she said.
Heathrow airport said it was operating as normal with minimal queuing in immigration halls despite the strike by border force workers. “Heathrow is fully operational, passengers are flowing through the border smoothly with Border Force and the military contingency providing a good level of service for arriving passengers,” a spokesperson for the airport said.
Paying public sector workers is a matter of “political priority”, said the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), Mark Serwotka. He said the government claimed it would cost £29bn to give every public sector worker what they’ve demanded; however, its calculations are near £10bn. “And £10bn in an economy like ours can easily be found,” said Serwotka.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan told Sky News “our objective this year is to get rid of the problem, which is inflation.” Keegan told Times Radio she was “disappointed” that a strike by teachers in England and Wales are going ahead and said the industrial action was unnecessary as discussions with the unions were continuing.
Here’s a look at upcoming industrial action:
Updated
Strikers unite across England: ‘Our disputes may be separate but we have one aim’
In what was billed as the biggest day of industrial action in a decade, workers from teachers to train drivers, civil servants to university staff went on strike on Wednesday.
Guardian reporters spoke to groups of workers on picket lines and at demonstrations in Bristol, Birmingham and London.
Read more here:
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