Emergency Cobra meeting being held to discuss military stepping in during Christmas strikes

Plans for members of the Armed Forces and civil servants to cover for striking workers, in the lead-up to Christmas, will be discussed at a Cobra meeting being held later today.

The country is set to be hit by a wave of strikes over the coming weeks as Royal Mail staff, nurses, paramedics, rail employees and Border Force officials all stage walkouts over jobs, pay and conditions.

Military personnel and civil servants are being trained in case they are required to be drafted in at ports and airports, as Border Force staff prepare to strike for eight days from 23 December to New Year's Eve.

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Armed Forces members will also be deployed to hospital trusts across the country to prepare to man vehicles ahead of an ambulance strike scheduled for 21 December, with a significant number of military staff now expected to miss Christmas breaks.

The meeting of Cobra (civil contingencies committee) on Monday will be led by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden and attended by transport, health, home office and defence ministers.

This meeting comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed that "many" military personnel will miss Christmas as they cover public sector strikes.

Another meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, as the Government aims to avoid scenes of widespread disruption.

Mr Dowden urged the unions to call off the "damaging" strikes.

"The stance the unions have taken will cause disruption for millions of hardworking people over the coming weeks," he said.

"The Government will do all it can to mitigate the impact of this action, but the only way to stop the disruption completely is for union bosses to get back round the table and call off these damaging strikes."

The Government has said it was working with Network Rail and freight companies to prevent delays and to ensure coal, steel and waste are prioritised during the latest set of strikes.

It follows a weekend that saw clashes between the Government and trade union officials, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper writing in The Telegraph that some families could face a "virtual Christmas" once again due to rail strikes over the festive season.