THE current wave of strikes will, at some point, come to an end.

It will come to an end not by the Government capitulating and giving every public sector worker an inflation-busting pay rise; it will come to an end not by the workers folding and leaving the picket lines.

It will come to an end through negotiation. It will come to an end through both sides softening their stances.

It will come to an end through the unions accepting that claims like 19 per cent are, as Labour says, “unaffordable” and accepting that change in the workplace is a continual process.

It will come to an end by the Government genuinely realising that, with inflation and fuel bills soaring, there are many, many people who are really hurting and will need a pay settlement that keeps up with the cost of living.

This feels like, for the public sector, a time for a new agreement between Government and employees. The last decade of austerity and pay freezes has eroded good will and employees would like to see a plan for future investment rather than more years of paring of the bone.

Both sides are currently at their most popular. The Government’s “belligerent” stance may play well with those on the right, but as the country grinds to a halt and as businesses are pushed over the brink as they cannot deliver their goods, it will get a battering.

Similarly, everyone remembers applauding the crucial work of the key workers, but as life-changing operations are cancelled, opinions will be revised.

So before that, in the knowledge that one day there will have to be negotiation, we have to urge that, at least in the background, discussions go on because it is only by talking that this wave will come to an end.