Education Secretary says she is hoping not to use anti-strike legislation on teachers

17 January 2023, 08:51 | Updated: 17 January 2023, 09:41

Education Secretary says she is hoping not to use anti-strike legislation on teachers

By EJ Ward

@EJWardNews

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said she hoped that the Government's controversial anti-strike legislation would not be needed in the teaching profession.

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill passed its first hurdle in the Commons on Monday. In Parliament, MPs voted 309 to 249, majority 60, to give the Bill a second reading.

Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC, Ms Keegan said the focus of the legislation was mostly on rail and the health service, not schools.

"All we're trying to do though is to make sure that we have the minimum service safety levels in place. It's going to initially focus on health and rail, and education is in there, but we're hoping not to use it for education because, at the moment, we're not at that stage."

Read more: Teachers will join wave of public sector strikes with 7 days of walkouts in February and March

But she said that introducing minimum service levels would protect "vulnerable children" in schools.

"We need to be able to keep schools open for vulnerable children, in particular. That is something we very much learned during the pandemic," she said.

"So yes, we are part of the Bill, but at the moment, the focus initially will be on health and rail and then when we get to that stage, obviously, we'll consider what is reasonable."

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Striking teacher tells LBC what people need to understand about strike

Nine out of 10 teacher members of the NEU - the largest education union in the UK - voted for strike action in a result announced on Monday, and the union passed the 50% ballot turnout required by law.

The outcome in England was described as "the biggest ballot result of any union in recent times" by one of the union's joint general secretaries, while the other said it will give teachers "strength in the negotiations" later this week.

The union has declared seven days of walkouts in February and March but said any individual school will only be affected by four of the days.