https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/11/cobra-meeting-to-discuss-pla... Skip to main contentSkip to navigation Sign in The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian Support us News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show More Search input Search google-searchSearch Support us Print subscriptions Search jobs Digital Archive Guardian Puzzles app Guardian content licensing site The Guardian app Video Podcasts Pictures Inside the Guardian Guardian Weekly Crosswords Corrections Facebook Twitter UKUK politicsEducationMediaSocietyLawScotlandWalesNorthern Ireland Military Cobra meeting to discuss plans for military staff to cover striking workers Labour and former army head warn repeated use of armed forces may lead to burnout and soldiers quitting Members of the British Army and a Border Force Official Peter Walker and Dan Sabbagh Sun 11 Dec 2022 17.30 EST Plans for military staff to cover for striking workers are to be discussed at a Cobra meeting, amid warnings that over-stretched troops are being used repeatedly to bail out ministers unable to solve disputes. With about 1,000 personnel due to miss Christmas breaks as they fill in for ambulance crews and border staff, military sources and retired senior officers warned about the potential impact on morale for troops whose real-terms pay has also declined. Ministers from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will take part in a pair of scheduled meetings of the government’s Cobra emergencies planning committee, billed as a chance to finalise contingencies to cope with an upcoming wave of public sector strikes. Nurses are set to become the latest to stage a walkout on Thursday, after the government refused an offer by unions to pause the action if ministers agreed to talks over a possible pay deal. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Sunday that while the health secretary, Steve Barclay, would talk to the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unison union, he would not discuss any deviation from a pay award decided over the summer by the official NHS pay review body. Thousands of ambulance workers and other NHS staff across England and Wales are also due to strike on 21 December over pay, while Border Force staff at airports and ports will strike from 23 December to Boxing Day, and from 28 December to New Year’s Eve. Rail workers are also scheduled to hold more strikes over Christmas, as are Royal Mail staff. The first Cobra meeting, on Monday, will be headed by Oliver Dowden, who as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster is the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office, which is in charge of planning for the strikes. As well as the MoD, ministers from the Department for Transport, Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office will take part, with a second meeting planned for Wednesday. The 1,000 military personnel will be joined by the same number of civil servants and volunteers in being trained to carry out duties such as checking people at borders and staffing ambulances, with 600 of the troops filling in for Border Force workers. While one government source argued that such numbers were standard for “military aid to civilian authorities” (Maca) arrangements, some in the military have started to question the amount of assistance being sought, with soldiers missing what could be their third Christmas in a row, after the military were called into help with the Covid crisis and other deployments. “Maca used to be last resort. Now it’s the go-to. Bad government planning equals soldiers missing Xmas,” said one military source, reflecting what they said were repeated grumblings they had heard from junior ranks. Lord Richard Dannatt, the former head of the army, warned over the weekend that soldiers being forced to miss Christmas with families could damage morale and see some quit. “Soldiers might decide they’ve had enough of bailing the government out of the muddles it gets itself into,” he told the Mail on Sunday. “They might think: ‘I joined to be a soldier, not a strike-breaker.’” Labour has reiterated its request to the MoD to spell out how many personnel in total are being used for Maca duties, and warned that the extent of such duties could affect national security. “Our armed forces are there to defend our nation, but are having to bail out Conservative ministers who are grinding our country to a halt,” said John Healey, the shadow defence secretary. “Troops will perform these tasks with total professionalism, but extra domestic demands raise real concerns while ministers continue to cut the size of the British army and the UK faces growing threats.” Sign up to First Edition Free daily newsletter Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you through the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In quotes released to announce the Cobra meetings, Dowden stressed the government’s line that the public should blame unions for any problems. “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,” he said. But in response to the offer from the RCN and Unison, Cleverly said it was impossible for ministers to amend awards decided by the independent pay body, even though these are only advisory, are based on parameters set by ministers, and have been ignored in the past. “The point is, meetings are different from pay negotiations,” Cleverly told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show. “Ultimately, independent bodies are there for a reason, to take the politics out of this kind of stuff. And we respect the judgment they have made, and we’re implementing it.” Labour’s Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said ministers were seeking to blame a crisis in the NHS this winter on striking staff, rather than seeking a solution. “They’re quite happy to see paramedics and nurses go on strike because when the proverbial hits the fan this winter, they are going to blame nurses and paramedics for an NHS crisis which is squarely the fault of a Conservative government,” Streeting said. “I think that’s dangerous. I think it’s reprehensible. I think it’s irresponsible.” Sir Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, also said the service was working with unions to ensure patients remain safe on strike days. “We are working hard to make sure patients are safe. 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Contribution frequency Single Monthly Annual Contribution amount $7 per month $13 per month Other Continue Remind me in January Accepted payment methods: Visa, Mastercard, American Express and PayPal Topics Military Industrial action British army Ministry of Defence James Cleverly Oliver Dowden Wes Streeting news Reuse this content More on this story Rail strikes to go ahead as RMT votes to reject latest offer 6h ago Whitehall graduate scheme members to vote on strike action 11h ago Nurses will strike this week in UK after talks with health secretary stall 28m ago Factcheck: are UK strikers greedy, unrealistic and putting others in danger? 15h ago Military in thankless task as soldiers drafted in to replace striking workers 1d ago Ministers refuse to negotiate with nurses on pay to prevent NHS strikes 2d ago Officers unlikely to stand in for striking ambulance drivers, police chiefs say 3d ago Nurses’ union leader accuses Steve Barclay of ‘bullyboy’ tactics 3d ago Most viewed UKUK politicsEducationMediaSocietyLawScotlandWalesNorthern Ireland News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning Sign up for our email About us Help Complaints & corrections SecureDrop Work for us California resident – Do Not Sell Privacy policy Cookie policy Terms & conditions Contact us All topics All writers Digital newspaper archive Facebook YouTube Instagram LinkedIn Twitter Newsletters Advertise with us Guardian Labs Search jobs Back to top © 2022 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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