Britain’s overcrowded jails are facing further industrial unrest after Jack Straw moved yesterday to ban prison officers from striking.

Mr Straw’s controversial move is intended to avoid a repeat of a wildcat strike by the Prison Officers’ Association last August, which caused chaos in the jail system.

Leaders of the association reacted with fury to the announcement and said that they had been betrayed by the Government.

Mr Straw’s decision to reimpose a legislative ban on industrial action by 25,363 prison officers opens up another front in the Government’s row over public sector pay.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is involved in a bitter dispute with police over a decision to phase in a pay deal, while at the same time the Ministry of Justice is seeking to ensure that police would be prepared to help out in jails in the event of industrial action by prison officers.

Mr Straw, the Justice Secretary, said that he had been left with no alternative but to seek to introduce a legislative ban on industrial action by prison officers - just two years years after Labour repealed an earlier ban.

Asked how he would react if the Prison Officers’ Association called industrial action in jails holding a total of 79,704 inmates, Mr Straw said: “If there is industrial action, obviously I would take a decision at the time.”

Mr Straw has already started to make contingency plans for industrial action after holding talks with senior Metropolitan Police officers.

However, Bob Ainsworth, the Minister for the Armed Forces, said last October that Service personnel would be used to provide cover during industrial disputes, such as prison strikes, only as a last resort.

“There are accordingly no Armed Forces personnel on permanent stand-by to provide cover for striking prison officers. In the event of a strike, HM Prison Service will explore all available options, with Armed Forces personnel being used only if necessary,” he said.

The strike ban measure was tabled yesterday as an amendment to a Bill currently going through Parliament and Mr Straw wants it in force by May, when a voluntary agreement with the Prison Officers’ Association ends.

Mr Straw said: “Our judgment is that we will have no alternative but to seek this reserve power. I don’t want it to be used. I have been extremely reluctant to bring this forward and I hope we can avoid using it.”

The measure will be kept in reserve and only used if the Government and the association fail to draw up a voluntary agreement not to take industrial action in the next five months.

Mr Straw’s decision will reinstate a statutory ban first imposed by the Conservatives in 1994, and at that time opposed by Labour, who repealed the law in 2005.

The Government then signed a voluntary agreement with the POA, but the union last year gave notice that it would withdraw from the deal on May 8. The need for a new statutory ban became inevitable after the wildcat strike last August and the worsening relations between the association and managers of the Prison Service.

Mr Straw disclosed that during the wildcat strike more than £220,000 of damage was caused during a serious disturbance at Lancaster Farm young offender institution in Lancashire.

The Prison Officers’ Association will hold a national executive meeting today, which is expected to call a special delegate conference where there are likely to be demands for industrial action.

Brian Caton, the general secretary of the association, said that prison officers would not be intimidated by the Government. “We are not prepared to be bullied or intimidated by murderers and terrorists, so we will certainly not be bullied or intimidated by politicians,” he said.

Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said that Mr Straw’s actions would inflame the row with criminal justice workers. “It is astounding that it was announced without consultation,” he said.

“If the Government is contemplating taking away union rights, they have to offer something in return. This will inflame everything.”

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