JEREMY CORBYN joined British Library workers striking for a pay rise that keeps pace with inflation on the picket line today.

“Your action is in support of public services, it’s in support of the fantastic institution that is the British Library,” he told them. “Think of all the great people who have studied here, what would they have to say [about the way they are being treated], what would Karl Marx have to say?”

Asking Public & Commercial Services (PCS) union branch chair Nick Alen if the local constituency MP — Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer — had shown up, he was given a tongue-in-cheek answer: “Oh yeah he’s here all the time, bringing us coffees…” As the strikers laughed, Mr Alen added: “Weak, watery coffee though!”

Over 300 PCS members began two weeks’ strike action this week demanding better than bosses’ offer of a 2.4 per cent pay rise which lags behind inflation. Staff say they are being made to pay for management mistakes and the medium-term financial consequences of the 2023 cyber attack on the library.