The Armed Forces are not “spare capacity” for striking workers, the chief of the defence staff has said as he cautioned against relying on the military as the “ultimate backstop” during industrial action.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of Britain’s Armed Forces, said it would be “slightly perilous” to expect them to be used routinely in the event of strikes by public sector workers.
In an exclusive interview for The Telegraph, Adml Radakin said the use of armed forces to provide cover for striking workers would not impede operations but suggested personnel should be allowed to get on with their day-to-day jobs.
“We’re not spare capacity,” he said. “We’re busy and we’re doing lots of things on behalf of the nation. We’ve got to focus on our primary role.”
Last night, the Cabinet Office confirmed that arrangements had been made to deploy 1,200 Armed Forces personnel to replace striking NHS ambulance drivers and Border Force workers this week, costing around £5.6million per week.
The number includes 600 drivers and a further 150 personnel providing logistical support to military personnel driving ambulances during a 999 workers strike on Dec 21.
The army will also provide contingency cover for Border Force by checking documents and passports.
On Wednesday, David Williams, the Ministry of Defence's top civil servant, said the department had identified up to 2,500 troops who could provide support to public services if needed.
Border Force staff have announced eight days of strikes at Britain’s largest airports from Dec 23, leaving Christmas travellers facing holiday flight delays.
The Public and Commercial Services union will mount the action at Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Cardiff airports, as well as Newhaven port.
Service personnel could also serve as firefighters if members of the Fire Brigades Union back industrial action.
Adml Radakin was clear that the military’s operational effectiveness would not be impeded by the plans, saying “we need to de-heat this debate”.
“We respond to the Government, we serve the nation,” he said. “We’re being asked to do some things. We can take that in our stride.
“It has an impact on individuals and we’ve got to acknowledge that. But all of the operations that we have planned, all of the things that we are doing, those are continuing, as you’d expect.”
He did, however, concede that viewing the military as “the go-to” would be “an unusual position for us to arrive at”.
“It would be slightly perilous to rely on defence to be doing all of these things as the ultimate backstop [but] we’re miles off [this having] an impact on operational effectiveness,” he said
Military figures have stressed to the Telegraph that it is wrong to “use public servants who received one of the smallest pay awards and legally can’t strike and have no independent advocate body, to cover for public servants who do”.
One said: “The Government’s answer when things get sticky is to use the Armed Forces in non-traditional roles, but when it rolls around to pay reviews it never seems to be reflected.”
The standard wage for a soldier at the rank of Private is £21,424, compared with £27,055 for a paramedic with less than two years’ experience.
Striking paramedics and ambulance workers are staging a walkout over the Government’s four per cent pay award while Border Force workers want a 10 per cent pay rise.
On Saturday night, Steve Barclay, the Health Secretary, said his “number one priority is to keep patients as safe as possible” including by “making the best use of the Armed Forces, volunteers and freeing up capacity to mitigate disruption and ensure safe staffing levels”.
The President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has told The Telegraph he was concerned some patients facing a genuine medical emergency may not seek care after warnings about the impact of the strikes.
Dr Adrian Boyle said: “What I worry about is little old anxious ladies sitting at home going: ‘Oh I mustn't bother anyone’ [who] are not seeking help when they should.”
Ministers have also warned the public that the health of those in need could be put at risk and that those calling 999 could face a lengthy wait.
Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster who is in charge of contingency planning for the strikes, has said that the walkout by ambulance drivers this week posed a “significant risk”.
He told The Telegraph that the Government was “not going to be able to mitigate away all of the impacts of these strikes”.
“The whole Government effort is, of course, to try and minimise those impacts,” he said. “But if this ambulance strike, in particular, goes ahead, there will be significant impacts and significant disruption.”
