PRIME Minister David Cameron had urged people to go to work and not join yesterday's public sector strike, as he repeated a pledge to tighten up strike laws.

The Prime Minister, right, said that plans to change strike laws would be included in the Conservative Party’s general election manifesto.

He criticised the fact that under the current law, a strike can take place if it is backed by a majority of those balloted, and he suggested that a minimum turnout threshold could be set for industrial action to take place.

He also criticised the fact that teachers went on strike based on a ballot of union members that was conducted two years ago.

His official spokesman said the Conservatives would look at a ‘a range of options’ for changing strike rules, including threshold levels, strike bans for essential services, and setting a limit on how long a ballot is valid for.

But the TUC, the umbrella organisation covering the UK’s trade unions, said that this country already has some of the toughest strike laws in the world and said the changes were unnecessary. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: “The number of working days lost to industrial action is low.

“Instead of ill-thought out and unnecessary changes in the law, a better use of the prime minister's time might be to come up with ways to ensure that Britain's hard-pressed public sector workers begin to share in the economic recovery.”