Now Jack Straw has rushed through rules making strike action by the Prison Officers illegal. Straw is reintroducing rules brought in by Michael Howard, the despised former Tory Home Secretary, in 1994. Once again New Labour are aping the Tories. 35 rebels voted against the ban. The Tories voted for it. After all, it was their ban. Their spokesperson in Parliament jeered that he was glad Labour had been converted to ‘Thatcherite legislation.’

The regulations could also be used against other actions by those whom the government designates ‘emergency’ workers.

Last summer the government got an injunction against proposed industrial action by the Prison Officers’ Association. It was totally ignored. The strike went ahead in any case. Straw says a repeat performance doesn’t bear thinking about. He wants a strike ban.

The Executive of the POA was full of Labour supporters, who hoped the government would be different from the high-handed Tories. They have been sadly disillusioned. Colin Moses says, “For 10 years we have promoted the Labour party. We will now actively tell people to vote against the Labour party. We feel betrayed by this New Labour government.”

Prison officers are traditionally regarded as a conservative section of the working class. They are close to the Police Federation, an organisation that is now demanding the right to strike. Both are, of course, a part of the state machine. The government is not just showing its political insensitivity. The threat to the POA is really an insult to every trade unionist in the land. New Labour is also being very short-sighted. They have already infuriated the police when Jacqui Smith, in order to save peanuts, scrapped an arbitration award for their pay that had already been budgeted for by the police authorities.