All the biggest strikes hitting UK as nation plunges into winter of discontent

Hundreds of thousands of workers across all sectors of the economy are set to walk out in the coming weeks in a devastating wave of industrial action.

Nurses, civil servants, postal workers and charity staff are among those set to down tools in a bitter winter of discontent.

Spiralling inflation and a cost of living crisis - leaving staff reliant on food banks - has piled misery on millions of Brits who have decided enough is enough.

Rishi Sunak told Cabinet members this week that the coming months will be "challenging" as services grind to a halt due to pay disputes.

And train workers have announced another eight gruelling days of action, disrupting two whole weeks - one just before Christmas and one just after.

Here we look at some of the major strikes on the horizon over the winter.

Trains

Rail staff will stage a series of 48-hour walkouts in December and January in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, the RMT union announced.

More than 40,000 RMT members across Network Rail and 14 train companies will take strike action on December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and on January 3, 4, 6 and 7.

There will also be an overtime ban across the railways from December 18 until January 2, meaning industrial action will last for four weeks.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "We have been reasonable, but it is impossible to find a negotiated settlement when the dead hand of government is presiding over these talks."

Separately ASLEF members at 12 companies will already strike on November 26 – Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Great Western Railway; Greater Anglia; London North Eastern Railway; London Overground; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Transpennine Express, and West Midlands Trains.

A staggering 300,000 nursing staff are expected to join unprecedented strike action in a bitter row over pay.

For the first time in its 106-year history, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) balloted members over walkouts over the government's 4% pay rise.

RCN General Secretary Pat Cullen said: “Anger has become action, our members are saying enough is enough.”

The RCN's mandate to strike will run until early May next year - and it says action will be carried out legally and safely.

The union is due to announce its first formal strike dates later this week.

Junior doctors may also walk out in a dispute over pay, with tens of thousands set to be balloted in January.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has accused the government of eroding morale with a 2% pay rise, and said it is leading to dangerous staff shortages.

They have called for medics to be awarded a 26% increase and said "all options are on the table".

An estimated 45,000 junior doctors will cast their votes at the start of next year on whether to take industrial action, with Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair for the BMA Council, saying: 'Years of pay erosion has left the NHS dangerously understaffed, putting the safety of our patients at risk, and yet still this Government refuses to listen.

"Morale is sinking and without restoring pay the Government risks driving this country’s junior doctors from the NHS to better paid jobs at home or abroad."