THE Tory government’s “scary and draconian” attacks on working-class power and the right to strike were slammed by civil servants today.

Delegates meeting in Brighton for the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union’s 2023 conference unanimously backed a series of motions which demanded an end to “hostile legislation which is shackling trade unions.”

The damning intervention came just days after Tory MPs rejected House of Lords amendments to the widely condemned Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, paving the way for the legislation to soon become law.

The Bill could make effective strike action illegal by empowering bosses and even ministers to fire workers who refuse to cross their own picket lines and provide an as yet undefined minimum service level during walkouts across six key sectors, including transport, health and education.

It follows a change to regulations enacted in the dying days of Boris Johnson’s premiership last summer which allowed bosses to hire temporary agency workers to break industrial action.

PCS is one of 11 unions which launched a High Court legal challenge against the change earlier this month.

Speaking in the Brighton Centre, union delegate Duncan Mickey slammed the current leadership of both the Tory and Labour parties.

He said: “The Conservative Party is going in a very scary direction. It’s always been a terrible party, but it’s moving further and further to the far right, and I’m scared that after a soft-left government comes in and fails, then the next government that takes over is one that’s very scary indeed.

“It will be us, our members and other trade unions that will have to fight tooth and nail to ensure that this country doesn’t go down an extremely dark path.”

Birkenhead member Tracy Iverson urged the labour movement to unite and “speak for ourselves,” adding: “We must galvanise and get together.

“We must do it as a whole union movement because we can only fight for ourselves — we can’t rely on anyone else.”

Many speakers slammed Tory claims that the anti-strikes Bill was designed to protect workers and the general public.

“The latest legislative attack on the ability of workers to defend their interests through industrial action follows a long history of such responses from the ruling class,” national executive committee member Paul Williams said. 

“When the working class has made a stand throughout history, ever more draconian legislation has been their response.”