A future Tory administration would introduce new laws to halt strikes in the public services, Iain Duncan Smith has said.

Speaking as the threat of widespread industrial action on the railways intensified, the Conservative leader said key public sector unions were being allowed to "flex their muscles" by the government.

Forum Response: Unison

A spokesperson for Unison told ePolitix.com: "Iain Duncan Smith is showing his true colours at last and they paint a gloomy picture for Britain and British workers - if the Tories ever manage to get themselves elected. Threatening to introduce wide scale restrictions on workers' rights would turn the industrial relations clock back 20 years to the bad old days of Thatcher.

"Public sector workers do not take strike action lightly, it is always a last resort. And Iain Duncan Smith should be putting pressure on the rail companies to settle the dispute rather than inflaming the situation further."