THE Government is behaving like Nazis over changes to strike laws, angry unions have claimed.

Officials say industrial action reforms will instil fear and oppression akin to 1930s Germany.

New legislation, due to be published later this week, will propose a 50 per cent turnout threshold for industrial action ballots, while in core public services, such as health and education, 40 per cent of voters must back action.

Restrictions on using agency staff to cover strikers are also likely to be lifted, with the Government saying the changes will bring fairness to non-union workers and people relying on services.

However, unions have denounced the plans, saying working people are being targeted again.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, said: “This smacks of Germany in the 1930s when trade union leaders and activists were rounded up, imprisoned, and, in some cases, executed.

“The Nazis banned unions and strikes in 1933, and that is what the Tories are trying to do.

“They want to effectively neuter the unions, the only part of civil society now able to fight back, in Britain.

“They are trying to smash the unions because they are the only thing that stands between them and the class they represent and a return to Victorian values - tax cuts for bankers and brokers who brought Britain to the brink, and a life on zero hours contracts and the minimum wage for the rest of us.”

Frances O’Grady, TUC general secretary, said the plans will set a dangerous precedent.

She said: “Even when ballots succeed in meeting the new thresholds, employers will soon be able to stick two fingers up and bring in agency staff to break strikes.

“This is an affront to fair play; it reads like something straight out of a George Orwell novel.

“The legislation is a slippery slope towards worse rights for all.”

Len McCluskey, Unite union leader, said his members had voted to go on strike almost 700 times in the past year, winning virtually every dispute, and would not be put off by the Government.

He added: “The union will not be rendered toothless by passively submitting to unjust laws.

“If the Tories wish to put trade unionism beyond the law, then they must take the consequences.

"We are ready for the fight, and we will find allies throughout society who care for freedom and democracy.”

However, a spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, said the Government had to make changes to give non-union members more support, while making sure services continue if people down tools.

He added: “The ability to strike is important, but it is only fair that there should be a balance between the interests of unions and the needs of people who depend on services.

“People have the right to know the things they and their families rely on will not be disrupted at short notice by strikes supported by a small proportion of union members.”