Union boss Mark Serwotka brands Suella Braverman a 'liar', after border left unguarded for nine days
1 February 2023, 22:00
PCS union boss Mark Serwotka labels Suella Braverman a 'liar'
Public and Commercial Services Union's Mark Serwotka puts the govt on blast after they "operated a policy of open borders" for 9 days over Xmas.
In light of Wednesday's mass strikes across the UK, Public and Commercial Services Union's General Secretary Mark Serwotka joined LBC's Tom Swarbrick in a live phone-in.
The pair touched on the Border Force strikes that occurred over a 9 day period during Christmas last year.
The army were brought in by the government to cover striking staff at passport control. The PUC boss reflected on this move: "Our armed forces should not be used to break democratic strikes, they've got more important things to do."
READ MORE: Walkout Wednesday live: Parents forced to take days off or WFH as teachers and train drivers strike
The union's General Secretary questioned: "When does it end? Are we now going to see army personnel teach our kids, drive our trains, drive ambulances, put out fires? It's a sticking plaster that doesn't solve the long term problem."
Mr Serwotka went on to say: "The army were there, we were told there were no queues. But we've now seen the leaked figures from the Home Office to tell us that at Heathrow only 5% of people were stopped."
The PCS boss stated: "For a government that talks about security, security, security, essentially for 9 days over Christmas they operated a policy of open borders and they know it.
"Therefore, if the price they were prepared to pay was no queues by people being waived through - the army didn't even have the legal powers to stop people in the way that a border force official has than that is the decision they took."
"The stats speak for themselves... it means that when the Home Secretary told us that security was her top priority - she was lying because she knows that they did not provide the level of service, because they weren't trained to do so," the General Secretary concluded.
