SINCE the current rise in prices is largely down to the West making a stand against Russian aggression in Ukraine, strike action by UK workers could be argued to be self-serving at a time when the Ukrainians are making much greater sacrifices on the West’s behalf.

On the other hand, unions are there to protect their members’ pay and conditions, and workers, quite understandably, do not want to see a fall in living standards.

The trouble with the current wave of industrial action is that it will see those with leverage rewarded and those without ignored.

If the government really wants to portray itself as ‘standing up to union bully boys’ it must seek to target help at the most vulnerable in a fair and visible way.

The help already announced – £150 council tax refund [bands A-D], £400 energy grant for all, an extra £650 if you receive certain benefits and a £300 increase on the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance – go some way to doing this but there is scope for more effective targeting.

A rise in the minimum wage, perhaps, or raising the cut off point for means tested benefits?

And not all pensioners ‘need’ the winter fuel allowance and triple lock.

So, perhaps, an expansion of pension credit would be a fairer alternative – and be less likely to add to intergenerational resentment.

Robert Bone,
Carlisle