After the biggest fall in living standards on record, 2022 saw workers strike in numbers not seen for decades in the UK. From nurses to trash collectors, from postal workers to railworkers, working people found inflation eating away at their wages, leaving them unable to pay energy bills or put food on the table. And in response, they walked out.

Rather than address the cause of this strike action — low pay and the cost-of-living crisis — the government has instead launched the greatest attack on trade unions in a generation.

If the Minimum Service Levels Bill, introduced to parliament this week, becomes law, it would force workers across six sectors of the economy — health, education, fire and rescue services, transport, nuclear decommissioning, and border security — to provide a “minimum service level” during strikes. In practice, trade unions would be forced to send their own members to cross picket lines to avoid legal action or the sack, potentially rendering strike action ineffective entirely.