Struggling workers in Britain should avoid striking over their poor pay situations in order to help the fight against Vladimir Putin, the Chairman of the Conservative Party has said.
Nadhim Zahawi, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer who currently serves as Conservative Party chairman, has said that workers who are currently struggling in the United Kingdom as a result of inflation should avoid striking for better conditions, as doing so might help Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Many in Britain are struggling as a result of a mix of tax hikes and inflation, the latter of which is in large part the result of massive government coronavirus spending, green agenda policies, and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
A significant number of the population have now found themselves reliant on food banks, with some parents even skipping meals in order to keep their children warm and fed.
However, while the British government has played a significant role in bringing the current chaotic situation about, Zahawi nevertheless insists that Britons should be willing to just put up with it, as taking part in strike action for better conditions and pay could somehow aid the Russian war effort.
“The important thing to remember is that Putin is using energy as a weapon,” the minister said during an interview with Sky News.
“Our message for unions is to say [that] this is not a time to strike, this is the time to try and negotiate,” he continued.
“This is a time to come together and to send a very clear message to Mr Putin that we are not going to be divided in this way.”
Zahawi went on to emphasise that the Tory government was ready to deploy the army for the purposes of covering for possible strikes within Britain’s socialised health service, as well as its Border Force.
While the MP appears to be of the opinion that workers should be willing to undergo immense hardship in order to allow Britain’s ruling class to pursue foreign policy goals, others appear to have very different views.
For example, the country’s leftist Liberal Democrats have reportedly claimed that it is “ludicrous and insulting” to say Putin might be responsible for strike action.
“The responsibility lies firmly with this Conservative government’s shambolic failure to find a solution,” a spokeswoman for the party remarked. “Conservative ministers wasted billions of taxpayers’ money on dodgy PPE contracts and now are refusing to offer a fair pay rise to nurses.”
Meanwhile, former UKIP official Paul Oakley accused Zahawi of largely disregarding the point of view of workers who are being asked to suffer for the sake of somehow sticking it to the Russian president.
“Nadhim Zahawi hasn’t bothered asking the nurses (or anyone else) if they’re happy to slide into poverty to ‘send a message to Putin’,” Oakley wrote online, before describing peace talks with Russia as “essential” to prevent Britain from falling into an “economic depression”.