Scottish Secretary skips Whitehall event to avoid ‘undermining striking staff’

The Scottish secretary pulled out of a Whitehall event to reportedly avoid undermining striking staff.

Cabinet ministerIan Murray was set to attend a reception at the Scotland Office’s Dover House headquarters on Tuesday with business group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

But, at the last minute, Mr Murray pulled out. Sources close to the minister confirmed he did not want to undermine security guards, who were on strike as members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.

One guest at the reception told The Times: “Lots of people were discussing his conspicuous absence, which was very odd, given how many people had turned up to hear from him.”

Another said: “I know the Government wants to show it’s on the side of working people but yet again this seems to be at the expense of business. This is the most prestigious event of the year for Scottish firms and Ian Murray’s no-show was insulting to everyone who had travelled down to be there.”

The reception had been described as a “unique networking opportunity and the chance to highlight key business priorities directly to Scotland’s political representatives at Westminster”.

The PCS staff are striking from 28 October to 10 November in a dispute over their terms of employment. Security guards in several government departments are employed by external contractors and outsourcing firms, who the PCS say have “failed to make a reasonable pay offer, offering only the London Living wage” and failed on members’ employment terms.

PCS wants Labour to follow through on its election promise to “carry out the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation”.

Ahead of the strike, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “This escalation reflects the anger of our G4S and ISS members. They are particularly incensed by the insulting pay offers and the unacceptable fact that many receive no company sick pay.

“Ministers must settle these disputes and work towards the insourcing of these contracts to end this perpetual race to the bottom on pay and conditions.

"Our members deliver vital services that keep the civil service functioning and deserve to be treated as civil servants, not second class citizens in their own workplaces."

The minister’s decision to skip a work event in solidarity with those on strike marks a stark contrast for Sir Keir Starmer’s government. As leader of the opposition, Sir Keir sacked a shadow transport minister for giving broadcast interviews from a picket line as the RMT were striking.

Sir Keir also said that no MP should be on a picket line “if they want to be in government”.

And the PM previously declined to say whether he would cross any picket line at Parliament during a civil servants’ strike.