British Airways strike to go ahead

A five-day strike by thousands of British Airways cabin crew is set to go ahead from tomorrow after a leader of the Unite union said there had been a "catastrophic" breakdown of talks.

Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, said there was no chance of resuming negotiations today after talks with the airline were dramatically halted by scores of Socialist Workers Party activists last night.

Mr Woodley briefed union officials this morning but was gloomy about the chances of resuming negotiations.

The union is now pressing ahead with the first of three five-day walkouts.