TORY ministers must engage with unions in “meaningful pay talks and stop their smoke and mirror tactics” to avoid a Christmas of strikes, the labour movement demanded today.

In a joint open letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the general secretaries of the TUC and public services union Unison accused the government of “refusing to negotiate in good faith and of hiding behind” supposedly independent pay review bodies.

The charge from Frances O’Grady and Christina McAnea came after Health Secretary Steve Barclay promised to meet health unions on Thursday — but only to discuss patient safety during national walkouts by ambulance workers later this month.