Northumberland Labour says workers have every right to be angry with the government’s threats to sack nurses and teachers if they fail to provide minimum services levels.

Councillor Kath Nisbet said: “I have never heard anything more insulting. On the one hand they clapped the nurses who cared for us during the pandemic and teachers who kept going in very difficult circumstances. Now he’s threatening to sack them if they don’t toe the line. It’s ludicrous.

“Our talented professionals want to work and they want to provide excellent care and teaching; they also want to be properly rewarded for the difficult jobs they do.

“The government’s proposals, which even some of their own ministers say are unworkable, are a desperate attempt to browbeat talented professional workers in our country into submission.

“The people who teach our children and care for us and those we love when we’re sick should not have to put up with this behaviour from a government which very clearly doesn’t care about anyone but themselves.

“We are united against this attack on fundamental British freedoms. Labour will oppose this bill and repeal these restrictions on the right to strike. Labour will also work tirelessly to ensure people do not have to resort to strike action. We will do this by working constructively with business, the public sector and trade unions to reward people properly for the work they do while ensuring good value for taxpayers.”