London’s festive financial system was “decimated” by rail and postal strikes, as new figures revealed the disruption brought on by walkouts was the worst month on file since 2011.

Round 843,000 working days have been misplaced to strike motion in December – the best for greater than a decade – in response to official figures from the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS).

The surge in misplaced days adopted industrial motion involving Publish Workplace, rail and NHS employees amongst others, and was the worst strike affect in a single month since November 2011.

Richard Burge, chief govt of the London Chamber of Commerce and Trade (LCCI), stated the non-public sector strikes figures, whereas “staggering” weren’t an ideal shock.

Burge stated: “Transport and postal strikes decimated companies in December, particularly in London’s hard-pressed hospitality and retail sectors.

“The Christmas buying and selling interval is essential and might imply the distinction between enterprise or bust. It should take a very long time for [them] to recoup misplaced income related to the transport and postal strikes.”

Burge added: “London’s success is constructed on being a worldwide metropolis for enterprise and a well-functioning transport community is a key a part of this.

“Nobody desires our financial system to endure due to strikes; the federal government and all events concerned should have interaction constructively to resolve this perennial challenge as soon as and for all.”

ONS director of financial statistics Darren Morgan stated: “The variety of working days misplaced to strikes rose once more sharply in December.

“Transport and communications remained probably the most closely affected space, however this month there was additionally a big contribution from the well being sector.”

Commerce teams additionally highlighted the continuing affect of hovering inflation and workforce shortage.

John Dickie, BusinessLDN chief govt, stated: “Strikes, significantly in transport, are hitting London laborious, with companies already scuffling with excessive inflation and labour shortages.”

And a Confederation of British Trade (CBI) spokesman stated: “The affect on the financial system is especially troublesome to handle when they’re already dealing with extreme labour shortages.”

However unions stated there was no signal of the strike “wave” ending and that the ball was “within the authorities’s court docket”.

Sharon Graham, Unite normal secretary, stated the figures have been a “warning” and employees had “no possibility” however to proceed their battle for wage hikes as the price of dwelling disaster raged.

TUC chief Paul Nowak advised ministers to not “underestimate” public sector employees’ “resolve”, including: “Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt maintain the keys to unlocking these disputes. They have to come out of hiding and have significant talks on pay with unions.”

Gary Smith, GMB boss, added: “Strikes are occurring as a result of working individuals in every single place are standing as much as defend their dwelling requirements.

“The federal government should cease burying its head within the sand and begin speaking with employees who deserve a good pay rise, in any other case it’s solely going to worsen.”