More than 200,000 civil servants joined picket lines across the UK today to protest over job cuts, in their first national strike for 11 years.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said the strike action against government plans to axe more than 100,000 jobs had been a "huge success" with rallies held across the country.
A union spokesman said the strike had forced the closure of museums, disrupted driving tests, job centres, benefit offices and customs. He said: "The British Museum and the Science Museum have been closed and ports of entry have been affected."
The union estimated that around 160 government departments and agencies were hit by the stoppage, with picket lines being mounted outside government offices, museums and galleries.
Marchers in London picketed the Treasury before moving on to a rally at Westminster Cathedral Hall. Rallies also took place in Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast, Bristol, Taunton, Exeter, Dundee, Glasgow, Plymouth and Brighton.
A PCS spokesman said: "Our members today took a stand for the services which they deliver - and a stand to say you can't arbitrarily chop jobs without there being serious implications for those services."
He said the union hoped that the strike would make the government listen to its members' concerns. It could be followed by further industrial action if the row is not resolved.
The chancellor, Gordon Brown, earlier issued a defiant statement about the strike, saying: "This action will not affect our determination to make savings at the centre to increase investment in vital services at the front line such as healthcare, education, transport and the fight against crime.
"Our decisions mean more police, more teachers, more doctors and more nurses.
"We will provide help with information, relocation and retraining to help staff move into frontline work within the public sector, but we will not be diverted from these necessary changes so that we can make this essential investment."
