Members of Britain's largest civil service union will strike tomorrow in the country's biggest public sector strike in a decade over plans to cut 100,000 jobs.
The strike could further exacerbate relations between the trade union movement and the Labour Party, which is expected to call an election next year.
The action, in protest at Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's plan to cut 100,000 civil service jobs, will hit 160 government departments. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) hopes that around 200,000 of the civil service's 500,000 workers will strike.
The strike will affect customs and immigration at ports and airports, inland revenue offices and home office departments. Some major London museums, such as the British Museum and the Science Museum, said they would be closed by the action.
Government officials said contingency plans were in place to keep disruption to a minimum.
The PCS, which has a membership of around 305,000, last took industrial action in July when more than 90,000 members in job centres and benefit offices walked out in a pay dispute.
Mr Brown, who announced the job cuts in July as a part of a cost-saving exercise, has warned the unions not to strike, saying his cuts will go ahead.