Security guards at Heathrow Airport are to strike over Easter in a dispute over pay, with passengers warned they face “severe delays”.
The Unite union said flights using Heathrow Airport will “experience severe delays and disruption this Easter” as the workers stage a 10-day walkout.
More than 1,400 security guards employed by Heathrow Airports Ltd (HAL), who are members of Unite, will strike after voting in favour of the industrial action.
The walkout will begin on Friday 31 March, with the final day of strike action on Sunday 9 April (Easter Sunday).
The strike action involves security guards employed at Terminal Five.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said the workers are “fundamental to [the airport’s] success” and they deserve a fair pay increase.
A Heathrow spokesperson said passengers can be reassured that the airport has “contingency plans” in place which will keep the airport “open and operational despite unnecessary threats of strike action by Unite”.
“Threatening to ruin people’s hard-earned holidays with strike action will not improve the deal,” they said.
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“We want to do the right thing by our people and our passengers, each day only delays this pay rise reaching Unite members’ pockets.”
Around 400 Unite union members working for Menzies, an aviation company, planned to walk out for 72 hours until a larger pay offer was put on the table.
Passport Office staff to strike for five weeks
The announcement from Heathrow comes after more than 1,000 Passport Office staff across the UK will strike for five weeks in an escalation of a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working at passport offices in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newport, Peterborough and Southport will walk out from 3 April to 5 May.
Those in Belfast will strike from 7 April to 5 May.
The union said the action is a “significant escalation” in the long-running dispute, as it warned the strike will have a “significant impact” on the delivery of passports as summer approaches.
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Strike campaign to last ‘through summer’
Members are asking for a 10% pay rise as well as job security, changes to their pensions and protected redundancy terms.
But the government has said demands from civil servants would cost £2.4bn and are unaffordable.
Passport Office staff have come under increasing pressure following a “record number of applications” in 2022 after COVID restrictions were lifted in the UK and abroad, the Home Office said.
A total of 360,000 people had to wait longer than 10 weeks to receive their passports last year.
When asked about the fresh round of strikes, a Downing Street spokesperson said the PM is “disappointed” the action is going ahead and the government will do “everything we can” to mitigate the impact.
They added that there are no plans to change the official 10-week waiting time for passports that was introduced in 2021 to cater to a surge in demand following the pandemic.
On 1 February, Passport Office staff joined about 100,000 civil servants represented by the PCS as part of industrial action affecting 124 government departments.
A woman and three other children managed to escape the property and are being treated in hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: “At 1.08 this morning (5 May) police were called by the fire service to reports of a serious house fire on Kingsdale Drive, Bradford.
“A woman and three children managed to escape the property and were taken to hospital for treatment. Their injuries are not life-threatening.
“A fourth child was found inside the address and was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene,” police added.
“A scene is currently in place at the address and police are working with the fire investigators to establish the exact cause of the fire.”
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Rishi Sunak has urged Tories to stick with his leadership despite the Conservatives’ shock defeat in the West Midlands mayoral election, which capped a dire few days of results for the party.
The margin of victory was a cruelly tight 1,508 votes, and compounded Conservative disappointment as it followed another loss to Sadiq Khan in London, who secured a record-breaking third term as the capital’s mayor.
“People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour. Our fantastic new mayor Richard Parker stands ready to deliver a fresh start for the West Midlands,” Sir Keir said.
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‘Devastated’ Andy Street refuses to blame Sunak after West Midlands defeat
However, in an effort to win back those who had deserted his party over Labour’s stance on Gaza, he added: “I say directly to those who may have voted Labour in the past but felt that on this occasion that they couldn’t that across the West Midlands we are a proud and diverse community.
“I have heard you. I have listened. And I am determined to meet your concerns and to gain your respect and trust again in the future.”
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Labour suffered losses to independents and George Galloway’s Worker’s Party of Britain in areas with large Islamic populations as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas.
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Starmer speaks at East Midlands victory rally
But the party virtually swept the mayoral elections board across England, winning in Liverpool, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, and in Greater Manchester, where Andy Burnham returned to power.
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The Tees Valley was the only remaining splash of blue left on the mayoral election map, where Lord Ben Houchen managed to cling to power despite a huge 14.1-point swing to Labour.
Lord Houchen’s victory was also mired by allegations he had sought to distance himself from Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party at large during his campaign.
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Sadiq Khan re-elected as London Mayor
Losing Mr Street, who is widely respected in the Tory Party and had an impressive track record of bringing investment into the West Midlands, is a body blow to the prime minister.
Despite the drubbing, Mr Sunak urged his party to stick with his leadership and his plan for government.
In a statement, he said: “It’s been disappointing of course to lose dedicated Conservative councillors and Andy Street in the West Midlands, with his track record of providing great public services and attracting significant investment to the area, but that has redoubled my resolve to continue to make progress on our plan.
“So we will continue working as hard as ever to take the fight to Labour and deliver a brighter future for our country.”
However, Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, was quick to lay the blame for Tory losses firmly at the door of Number 10.
But she said ousting Mr Sunak “won’t work”, adding: “The hole to dig us out of is the PM’s, and it’s time for him to start shovelling.”
She urged him to adopt “strong leadership, not managerialism” on tax, migration, small boats, and law and order.
But Mr Street took a different view, encouraging the party not to veer to the right.
Asked if he is worried the party is drifting to the right and over-emphasising the threat from Reform UK while “ignoring other voters”, the outgoing mayor told Sky News: “I would definitely not advise that drift.
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“The psychology here is really very straightforward, isn’t it? This is the youngest, most diverse, one of the most urban places in Britain, and we’ve done, many would say, extremely well over a consistent period,” Mr Street said.
“The message is clear: winning from that centre ground is what happens.”
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‘We will give this region a fresh start’ – Labour’s Richard Parker
Results are in from 106 of the 107 councils in England that held elections on 2 May, and Labour has won 1,140 seats, an increase of more than 200.
The Liberal Democrats beat the Tories into second place, winning 521 seats, up nearly 100.
The Tories were just behind on 513 seats, down nearly 400.
Tory incumbent Andy Street has suffered a shock defeat to Labour in the West Midlands mayoral election after a partial recount was ordered.
Labour’s Richard Parker beat Mr Street by just 1,508 votes – 0.25% – to deliver a major blow to Rishi Sunak in the key electoral battleground after a hammering in the local elections.
With the race neck-and-neck, in the end it came down to the results in one borough – Labour-supporting Sandwell.
“This is the most important thing I will ever do,” Mr Parker said in his acceptance speech.
“I promise you that I will deliver jobs,” he added.
He told Sky News he would take buses “back into public control” and deliver the “largest programme of social housing we’ve had in this region for more than 40 years”.
And he thanked his predecessor, who he said had “led this region through a number of great challenges and you deserve great credit for that”.
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Mr Street told Sky News he was “personally devastated”, had “put my all into this”, and “genuinely believed we were making real progress across the region”.
He said it was “my campaign, totally”, adding: “I’m not going to try to push responsibility anywhere else. There’ll be no sloping shoulders from me.”
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He wished his successor “all strength and wisdom”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was a “phenomenal result” and “beyond our expectations”.
He added: “People across the country have had enough of Conservative chaos and decline and voted for change with Labour.
“My changed Labour Party is back in the service of working people, and stands ready to govern.”
Ellie Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator, said it was a “significant victory”.
She added: “Right across the country people have voted for change and the message is clear – it’s time for a general election and a Labour government to get our country’s future back.”
These results will increase pressure on the prime minister, who had been hoping for a repeat of the success enjoyed by Conservative Ben Houchen who held on as the mayor of Tees Valley.
Sam Coates, Sky News’s deputy political editor, said he had seen messages from Conservative MPs’ WhatsApp group.
One from former cabinet minister Simon Clarke, whom Coates said “wants Rishi Sunak to leave”, said: “These results are awful and should be a massive wake-up call.
“If we fight the same campaign in a few months [in the general election] we’ll get the same outcome or rather worse.
“Reform UK standing more candidates will cause greater damage.”
The loss of either the Teesside or West Midlands mayoralties would give Tory rebels who want to change leader a “huge amount of fuel”, former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said in the Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
Mr Street, who was seeking a third term in office, sought to distance himself from the Conservative brand during his campaign and instead ran on a personal platform.
Sky News recently revealed that Mr Street was sending out election literature with an endorsement from former prime minister Boris Johnson which urged people to “forget about the government”.
His campaign website also made no mention of Mr Sunak on its homepage and was coloured in green rather than Conservative blue.