BRITAIN’S biggest Civil Service union is leading the fightback against “government ineptitude, which is hitting working people,” SNP MP Chris Stephens said today.

Addressing the annual conference of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the chairman of the union’s parliamentary group hailed the resolve of the union’s 185,000 members, whose national strikes over pay and working conditions have coincided with political turmoil in Westminster.

“What a year it’s been,” Mr Stephens told delegates gathered at the Brighton Centre.

To laughter, he added: “We had the resignation of the worst prime minister ever: Boris Johnson. Then Liz Truss said: ‘Hold my beer.’

“While we rightly mock them, we shouldn’t let them forget the damage they’ve done to the economy, to living standards, with increased mortgage rates and rents and with soaring food inflation now at 19.2 per cent.”

The SNP levelling-up spokesman paid tribute to PCS and other unions, saying: “When ministers insist working people should pay the price for government ineptitude, the union movement is fighting back.”

To much applause, he blasted both Tory and Labour frontbenchers for demonising striking workers, stressing that it is the “duty and responsibility of each and every member of Parliament to visit picket lines to show solidarity and support.”

Mr Stephens also blasted the anti-strikes Bill, which is set to become law after Tory MPs voted to reject House of Lords amendments to the widely condemned legislation earlier this week, as an “assault on basic freedoms.”

The Bill could empower bosses and even ministers to sack workers who refuse to cross their own picket lines to provide an as yet undefined minimum level of service during walkouts in key sectors, including transport and education.