Royal Mail workers, university lecturers and sixth-form college staff will walk out over pay disputes today as strikes continue across the country.
Picket lines will be mounted outside universities, colleges and Royal Mail centres in one of the biggest walkouts on the same day.
Royal Mail has warned that the postal strikes will “hold Christmas to ransom” for their customers.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Royal Mail staff, are also planning strikes next month, including on Christmas Eve.
Dave Ward, its general secretary, said: “Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect.”
Postal workers want to get on with delivering Christmas gifts, he said, but “they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs”.
Hundreds of thousands of workers across many sections of the economy, including nurses, rail workers and ambulance staff, are due to strike next month and in January.
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Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, has warned the winter will be “challenging” as services stop over pay disputes.
The CWU said its members will be in London next Friday for the “biggest strike demonstration this country has ever seen”.
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Royal Mail said it was “proud to have the best pay and conditions in our industry” and has urged customers to send their Christmas post early.
Upcoming strikes:
CWU workers are also planning seven more strikes next month on: 1, 9, 11, 14, 15, 23, 24 December
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Network Rail and 14 train operators are planning four 48-hour strikes on 13-14 December and 16-17 December and 3-4 January and 6-7 January
Royal College of Nursing has confirmed strikes on 15 December and 20 December
Ambulance workers, who are part of Unison, are set to strike before Christmas although an exact strike date has not been set yet
Bus strikes include: Abellio strikes on 1-2 December 9-10 December and 16-17 December and Metroline strikes set for 1-3 December, 8-9 December and 15-16 December
Around 100,000 civil service members to strike in December and January – dates have not been announced
National Education Union (NEU) teacher members who work in 77 sixth-form colleges in England are also on strike in a dispute over pay.
The union said teachers working in sixth-form colleges have suffered a real-terms pay cut of an estimated 20% since 2010.
A ballot showed huge support for industrial action.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “Members take strike action with great reluctance, but the effects of real-terms pay losses are simply too urgent for them to endure the situation any longer.
“These cuts are driving an exodus from the profession”.
The University and College Union (UCU) is following a 48-hour strike last week with a 24-hour walkout among university staff and is holding a rally in London.
UCU members at 150 universities will be on strike.
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Ambulance strikes before Christmas
Members at the University of Sheffield International College are on strike for three days, ending on Wednesday, in a long-running dispute over low pay.
The union says the action is the first-ever strike to take place in a privatised higher education provider.
Following the announcement of nursing strikes next month, the Interim Chief Executive of NHS Providers Saffron Cordery said the army is standing by in case it is needed to fill roles during strikes by NHS workers this winter.
Rail workers are due to strike for eight days next month and in January, the RMT union announced last week.
Mick Lynch, its general secretary, held talks with Mark Harper, the transport secretary, last week but there has been no breakthrough in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.
The King has paid tribute to Scotland as a “uniquely special place” for the Royal Family as he marked the 25th anniversary of the Scottish parliament.
At the ceremony to commemorate a quarter of a century since parliament opened at Holyrood, the King said: “Speaking from a personal perspective, Scotland has always had a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself.
“My beloved grandmother was proudly Scottish, my late mother especially treasured the time spent at Balmoral, and it was there in the most beloved of places, where she chose to spend her final days.”
He said we are all “united by our love of Scotland”, paying tribute to its “natural beauty”, “strength of character”, “diversity of its people”, “passions and frequently deeply held beliefs”.
“From the central belt to the north Highlands, across the islands in Ayrshire, in the Borders, the cities, towns and villages, all the coastal communities, who I wonder, could not fail to be moved by this complex Caledonian kaleidoscope?,” he asked as presiding officer Alison Johnstone and the Queen sat beside him.
After he gave the speech, the King was hugged by a member of the public – who said she did so “because of him being unwell”.
The 75-year-old was diagnosed with cancer in February but has since returned to public duties.
Yvonne Macmillan, 59, from East Renfrewshire, attended the anniversary ceremony with her husband Russell who is registered blind and chosen as a “local hero” for work in their area.
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“I asked him if he was feeling better and if I could give him a hug. I actually said to him: ‘Can I hug you?’,” she said.
“As I hugged him I said, ‘God bless you’, so it was like God giving him a hug.”
While Sir Tony Blair’s Labour government legislated for Scottish devolution in 1997 – parliament officially opened at Holyrood on 1 July 1999.
The King has made six visits to the parliament since 1999 – while his mother Queen Elizabeth II made 10 visits during her lifetime.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney is one of a number of MSPs who have been at Holyrood since the start of devolution.
He said in his own speech in Edinburgh on Saturday that the parliament has “placed itself at the very heart of the nation”, describing it as a “vessel of enlightenment, invention and creativity”.
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The SNP’s Christine Grahame is another MSP who has been there since the start.
“Free tuition, free prescriptions, game-changing policies to tackle child poverty, the ban on smoking, the baby box, ScotRail back in public ownership – none of this would have been possible without the Scottish parliament and the strength of our commitment to self-determination,” she said on Saturday.
The King said the devolved parliament has the ability to “touch and to improve the lives of so many individuals”.
But he added that “there remains much more to be done” for Scotland, the rest of the UK, particularly with regards to climate change.
“Let this moment therefore be the beginning of the next chapter,” he told those assembled.
“The achievement of the past and the commitment shown in the present give us the soundest basis for confidence in the future.”
A moped riding phone thief was caught red-handed after police tracked the device down hours after he snatched it from a woman’s hand.
CCTV footage released by police showed a masked moped rider mount the pavement in Croydon, south London, to swipe a phone from a woman’s hand on 6 March, while another victim had theirs stolen while they waited for a bus an hour later.
Amari Scott, 20, looked surprised when confronted by officers inside a shop, where he was found with two mobile phones.
“We’ve just had a moped rob a mobile phone off the pavement and the phone is pinging in this location,” one of the officers told him in body-worn camera footage before Scott was handcuffed and led away.
Police also recovered a stolen motorbike and Scott, from Sutton, south London, was later jailed for four years.
Two teenagers who committed four robberies in the space of just half an hour were also arrested as part of a crackdown in Croydon.
Aged 16 and 17, the teens were issued with referral orders after pleading guilty to charges of robbery, attempted robbery and attempted grievous bodily harm.
One of the teenagers tried to discard a knife before she was arrested after a foot chase, telling officers: “The knife wasn’t mine”.
The other ran away, leaving a knife and his bag, but was lying in bed at home when he was arrested shortly after.
The Metropolitan Police said officers are intensifying efforts to tackle robbery and theft, encouraging victims to report incidents as they happen to increase the chances of catching the criminals.
Chief Inspector James Weston said: “We understand the impact that robbery has on victims – it is invasive and frightening.
“That’s why our teams are working so hard to deter and catch offenders to reassure our local community.
“Thanks to the hard work of officers, our partners and community grassroots organisations, we are stepping up our efforts and tackling the issues that matter most to the people of Croydon.”