Teachers hold strike vote in pension row

Schools are facing strike action after a traditionally moderate teaching union decided to vote on industrial action for the first time in 31 years. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) is preparing a strike ballot over planned changes to the profession's pension scheme. Chancellor George Osborne is demanding a 3.4 per cent increase in contributions by 2014.

Mary Bousted, the ATL leader, said: "It is unfair to expect teachers and lecturers to shoulder the burden of the budget deficit ... [they] are being prepared as sacrificial lambs to make the Chancellor's budget sound better."