The British government has convened the Cobra emergency committee to deal with the wave of new strikes coming. Hundreds of soldiers deployed in hospitals, where nurses are about to strike for the first time in history
The Cobra goes into action in London, the Emergency Situations Committee which usually meets to deal with terrorist attacks or other catastrophic events: but this time the government of Rishi Sunak has summoned him to face the wave of strikes that is bringing Great Britain to its knees. The body, made up of ministers and senior officials, met this afternoon to discuss the contingency plans to be put in place to allow the nation to continue functioning: It will chair a series of Cobra meetings in the coming weeks – said the undersecretary of Presidency of the Council, Oliver Dowden – to ensure that our plans are as robust as possible and that disruptions are kept to a minimum.
In particular, hundreds of soldiers will be deployed in hospitals, where nurses are about to strike for the first time in history, in order to ensure essential services: the military will be used primarily to drive ambulances, blocked by a drivers’ strike. But it is estimated that the army will be able to ensure only 10% of emergency trips. Hundreds more soldiers will be sent to airports, where passport control officers are about to strike: an action that could lead to the cancellation of 30% of flights in British airports around the Christmas holidays. If we add the strike by trains and motorway workers to this, Great Britain risks paralysis in the coming weeks. Nor can we console ourselves with gifts and Christmas cards, because the strikes also involve the Royal Mail, i.e. the postal service. Finally, if you consider that even young doctors are considering abstention from work, Great Britain is experiencing a winter of discontent the likes of which it hasn’t seen in decades. Behind all these turmoil is the demand for wage adjustments in line with inflation, which has reached 11%: but the government does not intend to give in, because it believes that there is a risk of igniting an inflationary spiral that would last for years. The authorities therefore seem resigned: the country is facing a series of challenging days, admitted the Downing Street spokesman. And the Minister of Transport, Mark Harper, warned families that they will have to adapt to a “virtual Christmas”, given the impossibility of reaching relatives. We seem to have returned to the days of the lockdown, which had effectively canceled the past two Christmases: only now not Covid, but the virus of social discontent, for which there seems to be no vaccine.
December 12, 2022 (change December 12, 2022 | 5:32 pm)
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