'We can still talk about reforms,' says Cable

VINCE Cable last night insisted the government was willing to negotiate over reforming public sector pensions, amid warnings it could be facing the biggest wave of strikes for almost a century.

The Business Secretary said he believed "reasonable people" could still resolve the dispute after Dave Prentis, general-secretary of the Unison trade union, threatened the most wide-ranging industrial action since the general strike of 1926.

Unions reacted with fury on Friday after Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander set out plans that require most public sector employees to work longer and pay more for less generous entitlements in retirement.

Union negotiators accused ministers of "scuppering" long-running negotiations aimed at reaching agreement on reform of public sector pensions.

With up to 750,000 teachers south of the border and civil servants across the UK set to join a one-day strike on 30 June, Prentis said it might simply be the start of a prolonged industrial upheaval. Cable said: "The government wants to negotiate over this and our belief is that most trade unionists want to negotiate over this as well.

"It's a very big, complex, difficult issue. But there's got to be reform otherwise the burden falls on taxpayers and future generations. We have got to do something about it.

"We are talking about how future pensions are to be paid for. Reasonable people, I think, can agree and negotiate on how we deal with that problem."