Anti-strike bill moves one step closer to law – hours after new walkouts announced
A controversial anti-strike bill has moved a step closer to becoming law – hours after teachers and nurses announced fresh walkouts.
Under the government’s draft Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, the right to strike would be restricted by imposing minimum service levels and bosses would be legally able to fire employees who ignore a “work notice” ordering them to work on days of industrial action.
The statute passed its second reading in parliament after MPs backed the legislation by 309 votes to 249 – a majority of 60.
As the bill was debated in the Commons, it was announced that the first strikes by teachers since 2016 will take place in February and March, while nurses also announced two further days of industrial action next month.
Meanwhile, ambulance workers are expected to announce up to six more strike dates on Wednesday.
Anti-strike law ‘indefensible and foolish’
During the Commons debate on the strikes bill, Business Secretary Grant Shapps said the legislation “does not seek to ban the right to strike”, adding: “The government will always defend the principle that workers should be able to withdraw their labour.”
Also, former home secretary Priti Patel suggested ministers should “look at widening the list of sectors where minimum service standards are needed” as the wave of industrial action continues across the UK.
Under the proposed legislation, the government will get the power to set minimum safety levels for fire, ambulance and rail services in England, Wales and Scotland.
They would also have the power to set minimum levels of service for health, education, nuclear decommissioning and border security – but the business department said ministers “expect to continue to reach voluntary agreements” with these sectors.
However, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner described the bill as “one of the most indefensible and foolish pieces of legislation to come before this House in modern times”.
Read more: No 10 sticking to its guns on strikes but is this sustainable? – Beth Rigby analysis
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Teachers vote to strike next month
Teachers to strike on seven days in February and March
Thousands of teachers are set to walk out of classrooms over pay after the National Education Union (NEU) reached the threshold required to take strike action.
The largest education union had organised a ballot of 300,000 members in England and Wales, calling for a “fully funded, above-inflation pay rise”.
Nine out of 10 teacher members of the union voted for strike action and the union passed the 50% ballot turnout required by law to take industrial action.
The NEU said the vote shows teachers are not prepared to “stand by” and see the education service “sacrificed” due to “a toxic mix of low pay and excessive workload”.
The union declared seven days of walkouts in February and March – on 1, 14 and 28 February and 1, 2, 15 and 16 March – with the first day of strikes on 1 February expected to affect 23,000 schools in England and Wales.
Read more: Strikes this month – who is taking action and when
In a statement, Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: “We regret having to take strike action, and are willing to enter into negotiations at any time, any place, but this situation cannot go on.”
Agency staff and volunteers could be used to cover classes, with schools expected to remain open where possible and the most vulnerable pupils given priority – according to updated guidance issued by the Department for Education.
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Education Secretary Gillian Keegan described the strike action as “deeply disappointing for children and parents”.
But headteachers in England will not stage walkouts after the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) union ballot turnout failed to meet the 50% legal threshold.
The union said it will consider re-running the ballot due to postal disruption.
Nurses announce two more strike days
Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England are due to strike on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
The union has said its members will also walk out on 6 and 7 February.
In an escalation of industrial action, more NHS trusts in England will take part than during the two previous days of strikes in December – with the number increasing from 55 to 73.
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Nurses announce more strike action
Some 12 health boards and organisations in Wales will also take part in the two consecutive days of strikes.
The two days of industrial action by nurses in trusts across England and Wales in December led to the cancellation of thousands of hospital appointments and operations.
It is expected that the health service will run a bank holiday-style service in many areas during the strike action.
Read more: Nursing union threatens biggest walkout to date
Downing Street called the announcement of further strike dates by nurses “deeply regrettable”.
But RCN chief executive Pat Cullen said nurses are taking the measures “with a heavy heart”.
“My olive branch to government – asking them to meet me halfway and begin negotiations – is still there. They should grab it,” she said in a statement.
The RCN had initially demanded a pay increase of up to 19% to cover soaring inflation and falls in real term wages over the past decade.
But earlier this month, Ms Cullen said she could accept a pay rise of about 10% to end its ongoing dispute with the government.
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Winter strikes threaten to escalate
Elsewhere, the GMB union is expected to announce further ambulance worker strike dates this Wednesday, Sky News understands.
Up to six more dates are being discussed after talks with Health Secretary Steve Barclay last week broke down.
The government continues to insist that pay claims are unaffordable and is sticking to its belief that wage rises should be decided by pay review bodies.
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
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In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
Read more:
IDF chief says conditions ‘created’ for Gaza ceasefire
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal ?
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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