Anti-Strike Laws to Be Scrapped 13 Months After They Were Introduced

Anti-strike legislation introduced last year to maintain “minimum safety levels” in key services during industrial action, is to be repealed by the government. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act came into force in July 2023 after the Conservative government pushed it through Parliament but Labour, which had promised if it won the election it would repeal it, announced on Tuesday it would be scrapped. Industrial action in the NHS alone cost the taxpayer £1.7 billion last year. The then-Business Secretary Grant Shapps said last year, “There comes a time when we can’t let this continue and that is why we need minimum safety and service levels—to keep livelihoods and lives safe, and it’s frankly irresponsible, even surprising, for the opposition opposite to suggest otherwise.”...