THE government faced calls for emergency action to save jobs “caught in the crossfire” of the Covid crisis today — as teachers warned against trooping pupils back to school as planned after Christmas. 

More than 40 countries have banned British arrivals over concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended Cobra crisis talks today after France shut its border with the UK for 48 hours from Sunday, meaning that no lorries or ferries can leave from Dover.

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s said that fresh food such as lettuce, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit could soon be missing from its shelves.

Roads to south-coast ports were jammed with thousands of lorries and aircraft scheduled to fly to European countries were grounded.

Eurostar rail services via the Channel Tunnel to France, Belgium and Holland were also paralysed.

After initially being concentrated in London and south-east England, the new strain is now being identified across Britain. It brings the wider threat of draconian Tier-4 restrictions, already affecting 17.7 million people in London and the south-east.

Transport unions demanded emergency financial protection of jobs threatened by the crisis.

RMT gen‎eral secretary Mick Cash said: “Thousands of workers on Eurostar, on the ferries and at our ports have been caught in the crossfire of the border crisis that has developed overnight.

“RMT is calling for an urgent package of government support.

“We will be looking for emergency tripartite talks with the employers and government.”

At a meeting with ministers on November 26, unions warned the government that Eurostar was “staring into the abyss” unless the service received financial support.

Transport Salaried Staffs Association general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “Our union has been warning for months that Eurostar is in a fight for its survival. The government is guilty of twiddling its thumbs and doing little else to help this vital green strategic link with the Continent.”

And teaching union NEU warned that the new variant of Covid-19 represents “a real threat” to education.

The union is demanding online learning for the first two weeks of January with local directors of public health setting up mass testing over the same period.

The NEU also urged the government to start to vaccinate education staff who do not have PPE or social distancing in their classrooms if it wanted to reduce widespread disruption.

Teachers Gawain Little, Jess Edwards and Daniel Kebede launched an online petition to raise pressure behind the demands.