Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude spoke on BBC1's Breakfast this morning, questioning the decision to strike while negotiations are in progress and branding the changes "perfectly reasonable":

"People are going to be scratching their heads, wondering why teachers and some civil servants are going on strike while discussions are still going about how we keep public sector pensions among the best available.

"But people are living longer, it's perfectly reasonable for people to expect to work a bit longer before they start drawing the pension, which will still be among the very best, to ask them to pay a bit more towards it because other taxpayers who are paying the rest, they've seen their own pensions take a hit."