Public holiday traffic in the UK has been severely impacted as thousands of Network Rail workers walked out on Saturday night to demand higher wages and better working conditions. As a result, train services were largely stopped in the afternoon. The fronts in the wage dispute have hardened. The strike called by the RMT union is not expected to end until December 27th.
In addition, border officials have been on strike at several airports since Friday, including the important London airports of Heathrow and Gatwick. In some cases, soldiers took over the passport controls. Nevertheless, long queues at entry were warned. There is no official passport control when leaving the UK. The strike is expected to last until New Year’s Eve.
Royal Mail workers have also been down from work for weeks, which is why scores of people have not received any Christmas mail or parcels. The British health service NHS has already announced new strikes for next year, the union has described previous salary increases as “pathetic”, and now in January, for example, the ambulances are to stop working for two days.
Telephone calls as appreciation for public service
In view of the numerous strikes, Sunak decided not to give the traditional Christmas speech. Instead, he surprised several government employees with personal calls, Downing Street said. Sunak tweeted on Saturday: “To all Brits working over Christmas – thank you. Whether you are in Mogadishu or Milton Keynes, I am personally grateful for your commitment.”
According to the government, Sunak phoned diplomats in Somalia, Pakistan and Ukraine, as well as the head of a state-sponsored charity in London. He also called the crew of the icebreaker “HMS Protector”, which is currently on duty around the South Sandwich Islands near Antarctica and supplies scientists there, among other things.
According to commentators, Sunak wanted to show the great value he attaches to public service. The unions accuse the government of refusing reasonable wage increases.
“Do you work in business?”
Sunak is again confronted with criticism on Christmas Eve. The trigger is an appearance by the prime minister in a soup kitchen for the homeless. There he asked a man if he worked in business, to which he replied that he was homeless. But he is interested in the economy, especially in the financial industry.
Sunak then spoke about his background in the financial industry and asked if the man “would like to get into this industry.” The man replied: “I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t know, I want to get through Christmas first.” Sunak wanted to point out at the performance that the Government has pledged £2billion to tackle homelessness and homelessness over three years Has.
UK: Railway workers are on strike
In Great Britain, after the emergency services and the post office, the railway workers are now on strike on Saturday. They demand higher wages and better working conditions.
Labor Deputy Leader Angela Rayner called the exchange “insufferable” and Labor MP Stella Creasy said: “Looking at this I’m concerned the Prime Minister thinks homeless means ‘has at the moment not a big estate’.”
Opposition: Lost contact with ordinary people
Labor MP Bill Esterson wrote that it showed Sunak had lost touch with ordinary people. This is one of the accusations Sunak was confronted with even before he took office as British Prime Minister – he is considered the wealthiest MP in the British House of Commons. Sunak has been in office since October. The 42-year-old wanted to spend his first Christmas as Prime Minister in his Richmond constituency in the northern English county of North Yorkshire.
