• Strikes have already been announced.
• Around 40,000 civil servants are using food banks.
• Workers ‘have no option’ but to walk out.

Strikes at the Department for Work and Pensions, the Highways Agency and among driving examiners have already been announced.

Around 40,000 civil servants are using food banks and workers ‘have no option’ but to walk out, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union said.

Mark Serwotka cautioned last week: ‘This is a crisis… PCS members come to me, sometimes in tears, saying they can’t afford to put food on the table.’

Responding to the new ONS data, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: ‘To get the British economy back on track, we have a plan which will help to more than halve inflation next year – but that requires some difficult decisions now.

‘Any action that risks embedding high prices into our economy will only prolong the pain for everyone, and stunt any prospect of long-term economic growth.’

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