The industrial action set to take place this Christmas and throughout winter is terrible for patients, passengers and working people across the country. The Government can and should be doing much more to get around the table, negotiate a fair deal, and avert these strikes.

The truth is that the responsibility for the disruption people will face this Christmas lies squarely with the Government.

It’s not just that the Tories crashed the economy with their mini budget, it’s that we have had 12 years of low or no growth and stagnant wages, meaning there hasn’t been money to invest in public services and give workers a fair pay rise. That is the underlying reason for the pressures striking workers are under and the disruption we all now face.

You can see me talk about this on ITV’s Central Lobby in the clip above.  You can see me talk specifically about strikes in the NHS here.