Hundreds of thousands of workers strike in latest UK industrial action

Teachers, London Underground train drivers and civil servants joined striking doctors Wednesday in a mass stoppage, just as Britain's finance minister Jeremy Hunt unveiled his tax and spending plans.

With hundreds of thousands of workers walking out, it was touted as the biggest single day of industrial action since a wave of unrest began last year.

From nurses to lawyers, staff hit by a cost-of-living crisis have been striking across the economy, pitting unions against the government which insists big pay hikes are unaffordable and risk fuelling inflation.

"The government are not listening, so this is what we have to do," Jil Gant, 59, who works for the prison service, told AFP at a protest in front of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Downing Street office.

She was joined by hundreds of other striking civil servants chanting "what do we want? 10 percent, when do we want it? Now!"

An estimated 130,000 members of the PCS civil servants' union walked out from government departments and agencies like Border Force.

Gant called the government's latest 2 percent pay rise offer an "insult".

Workers, who say salaries have not kept up with inflation, are also striking over conditions, job security and pensions.

Other groups staging stoppages Wednesday included UK university staff and BBC journalists in England.

The action by train staff in the Aslef and Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) unions in London left the entire Underground train network at a standstill.

Wednesday's walk-outs came as Hunt unveiled in his budget a raft of support measures to help struggling families, but failed to earmark specific funding for public sector pay rises.

"We're willing to offer more, but we won't do anything that...