HUNDREDS of thousands of British public sector workers went on strike to defend their pensions, causing widespread school closures in a major challenge to the year-old government.

A strike by up to 750,000 teachers, civil servants and other public sector workers in the UK is set to go ahead after crunch talks with the Government today failed to end a bitter row over pensions and spending cuts.

Thousands of Jobcentre Plus staff in the UK are to stage a 24-hour strike in an escalating row over working conditions and a “target driven culture”, it was announced today.

Border Agency workers at ports and airports across the UK will launch a two-day strike today in protest at changes to their shift patterns.

Conservatives were gathering tonight for their first party conference since reclaiming power, with the coalition’s public spending cuts set to dominate proceedings.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King will face questions on bankers’ bonuses and tax evasion as well as a boycott by a leading trade unionist when he addresses the TUC Congress tomorrow.

BRITAIN’S new coalition government set out plans yesterday to reform the electoral system and cut state interference in people’s lives, while tackling a record budget deficit.

Gordon Brown was tonight preparing to fire the starting gun for the 2010 British general election.

Staff at computer giant Hewlett Packard are to stage a fresh wave of strikes in a row over pay and jobs, it was announced today.

THE Conservatives pledged yesterday to cut spending by £23 billion (€25bn) by 2015 by freezing public sector pay, trimming benefits and finding efficiencies if elected next year.

British chancellor Alistair Darling will today face down critics of the UK government by insisting he will not take unnecessary risks with the economy to provide short-term gains.

Crucial talks aimed at averting a fresh wave of strikes by civil servants in a bitter row over pay and jobs will be held todayin the UK today.

A leading union today warned the government that job cuts in the civil service were damaging services after reports that benefit claimants were being given food vouchers as they waited to receive their money.

The Ministry of Defence in the UK is to axe 1,000 jobs from its head office and relocate another 800 posts from London, staff were told today.

Anti-war protests marking the third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq were continuing today, a day after tens of thousands of people took to streets around the world to demand coalition troops pull out of the country.

Hundreds of thousands of jobcentre and benefit office workers, museum staff, driving test examiners and other civil servants are to be balloted in Britain on a series of strikes in a worsening dispute over pensions which threatens widespread unrest in the run-up to the general election, it was announced today.

A large number of staff in Jobcentres, Benefit Offices and the combined Jobcentre Plus offices in Britain have all had to deal with violence at work, according to new research out today.