Union boss hails strike as 'best day' for generations

The leader of civil service union, the PCS, said today's strike by public sector workers had been "the best day for the trade union movement in generations".

Mark Serwotka added "they said this day would never happen" on social media site Twitter.

His ebulliance came despite claims only a minority of civil servants had gone on strike.

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Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude, told the House of Commons earlier that 135,000 civil servants - just over a quarter - had taken action.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the strike looked "something like a damp squib".

Before the industrial action, unions had predicted up to two million people would go on strike, making it the biggest walk out since the end of the 1970s.

It was called after the Government announced cuts to public sector pensions as part of its austerity drive.

The changes would see public sector workers pay more into their pensions and retire later.

The Government said that 62% of state schools had shut, with a further 14% only part open.

NHS managers said 6,000 of 30,000 'routine operations' had to be cancelled.

Just 18 job centres out of more than 900 across the UK stayed closed, it said.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the strike was justified because the public sector was "under attack" from the government.

"With the scale of change the government are trying to force through, making people work much, much longer and get much, much less, that's the call people have made," he said.