TRADE unions launched a major legal challenge to Tory government attacks on the right to strike today.

The High Court began a two-day hearing of the case, brought by social justice law firm Thompsons Solicitors on behalf of 11 unions co-ordinated by the TUC.

The coalition, which includes Unite, GMB and the National Education Union, decided to act after Downing Street changed the law to allow bosses to employ agency workers to break legal industrial action.

The new “agency worker regulations,” introduced last July by then prime minister Boris Johnson, are unlawful because the government failed to consult unions, as required by the Employment Agencies Act 1973, and because they violate the European Convention on Human Rights, the unions contend.

The TUC warned that the new rules will “worsen industrial disputes, undermine the fundamental right to strike and could endanger public safety if agency staff are required to fill safety critical roles but haven’t been fully trained.”

General secretary Paul Nowak said: “This government is brazenly attacking the right to strike.

“With inflation running at more than 10 per cent, ministers are falling over themselves to find new ways to make it harder for working people to bargain for better pay and conditions.

“Working people need stronger legal protections and more power in the workplace to defend their living standards, not less.”

The other organisations bringing the legal challenge are retail union Usdaw, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, the Prison Officers Association, the National Union of Journalists, rail unions RMT and Aslef and civil servants’ unions PCS and FDA. 

Running in parallel are two separate cases launched by public-service union Unison and teaching union NASUWT. 

Rulings are expected in a few weeks’ time.