Strikes UK – live: Sunak ‘pathetic’ in trying to shift blame as schools hit by walkout

Independent TV is hosting PMQs live on YouTube.

Rishi Sunak is at the despatch box now.

Independent TV is following a workers’ march through the streets of London.

Keep up with the long walk to Downing Street here:

Rishi Sunak will face Prime Minister’s Question at midday as around half a million workers walk out on Britain’s biggest day of strike action in more than a decade.

Teachers, train drivers, civil servants, university lecturers, bus drivers and security guards are among the professions walking out today.

Union bosses on the picket lines have accused the government of forcing the action. Mick Whelan, general secretary of the Aslef union, told The Independent: “The reality that this is a political strike driven by the government.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will use this afternoon’s session to grill the prime minister over his government’s record over months of widespread industrial action, which have seen ministers table new laws to limit the rights of striking workers.

Howard Stevenson, a professor in education at the University of Nottingham and a UCU Officer, said at a picket line that staff were “really, really dissatisfied” with a number of issues but said employers had only engaged on “the most minor details”.

He said: “Alongside the pension issue, we also have concerns about pay because pay has been eroded very substantially, over the last 10 years in particular.

“Workloads are very high, pay gaps are a concern, across the sector they are very high and at the University of Nottingham and we have something like a 20 per cent gender pay gap.

“This campaign is about tackling those issues, and in the higher education sector generally there is systemic misuse of precarious contracts, so many of our colleagues are on hourly paid contracts or fixed term contracts, so there are very high levels of job insecurity.

Traffic levels in cities across Britain plummeted on Wednesday morning as up to half a million workers went on strike, causing the closure of thousands of schools.

Location technology company TomTom said the level of road congestion in London at 8am was 68 per cent, down from 82 per cent a week earlier.

Other cities that saw a drop in traffic over the same period include Birmingham (from 77 per cent to 63 per cent), Bristol (from 79 per cent to 54 per cent), Glasgow (from 73 per cent to 65 per cent), Liverpool (from 67 per cent to 41 per cent), Manchester (from 100 per cent to 78 per cent) and Sheffield (from 64 per cent to 50 per cent).

The figures represent the proportion of additional time required for journeys compared with free-flow conditions.

TomTom traffic expert Andy Marchant said: “As half a million workers go on strike across the UK today, shutting down rail lines and schools, TomTom data has shown that congestion during this morning’s rush hour has fallen significantly from its usual levels.

“Our data suggests that workers have become accustomed to the disruption and are planning their commute accordingly or are staying at home altogether, heeding the advice to avoid any unnecessary travel and brace for significant disruption to their daily lives.”

On the first day of the latest round of national rail strikes, the train drivers’ leader has accused the government of forcing workers to walk out after deciding “train drivers aren’t worth a pay rise” (Simon Calder writes).

Mick Whelan, general secretary of the Aslef union, was speaking at the picket line at London Euston station on the first day of the latest round of national rail strikes.

Train drivers who belong to Aslef and work for 15 train operators are walking out in pursuit of a pay claim.

Mr Whelan told The Independent: “The reality that this is a political strike driven by the government.

“The government decided the train drivers aren’t worth a pay rise.”

More from The Independent’s travel desk here.

James Hibbard, head of Year 10, and a geography and food technology teacher at Myton School, Warwick, said he was striking because he felt getting proper funding was “a real struggle”.

Speaking from the picket line outside school: “For my role as head of year, we’re always looking for funding to allow students to meet their full potential and it just doesn’t seem to be available at the moment.

“We’re struggling to get them the funding that they need really.

“Trying to get students with special educational needs, trying to get them education, health and care (EHC) plans, everything is being cut, funding just isn’t available.”

The biggest strike in a decade is under way, with up to half a million workers walking out in increasingly bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of seven trade unions are taking industrial action, affecting schools, universities, trains and buses.

Thousands of schools closed for the day because of action by the National Education Union (NEU), although many parents only found out on Wednesday morning if their children would have to stay at home.

Civil servants, train and bus drivers and university staff also stopped work on the biggest single day of strikes in a decade.

Picket lines were mounted outside railway stations, schools, government departments and universities across the country, with unions saying they are receiving strong support from the public.

More than 100,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union are on strike, including Border Agency staff at ports and airports.

The union announced on Tuesday night that its Border Force members in France will strike during the February half-term.