‘Missing minister’ slammed for ignoring Civil Service unrest

Work
and pensions minister Andrew Smith has been criticised by trade unions for
ignoring the worst civil service strike for more than a decade.

Around
90,000 staff from his department walked out this week over imposed pay deals.

However,
the Mirror newspaper reports that Smith is planning to join the Prime Minister
for meetings in Berlin, leaving civil servant Sir Richard Mottram to deal with
the crisis.

Smith
was branded the ‘missing minister’ by Keith Wylie of the PCS trade union, who
said it was inappropriate for another civil servant to deal with the problem.

By Ross Wigham