Trade unions are seeking to hold the government “to ransom” by demanding direct talks on public sector pay, Ben Wallace has argued in a further apparent ratcheting up of ministers’ hardline stance towards strikes. Speaking at Manchester airport, where he met military personnel covering for Border Force staff, the defence secretary rejected a charge from the new TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, that the government was sabotaging efforts to end the strikes. Wallace rejected Nowak’s call for ministers to join talks, saying they could not override the recommendations of government-appointment pay review bodies, and that unions should instead talk to employers. “We’re not going back to the 1970s where the trade union barons thought that they ran the government,” Wallace said. “They used to meet in Downing Street and tell the Labour government of the day what they’re going to do. We’re not going to go back to that. We’re not going to be held to ransom. “The trade unions can negotiate, they can negotiate with their employers and try and come to a resolution. That’s the most important thing. There’s no magic wand here to come up with money that the country doesn’t have. “Ultimately we’re in a position where we’re trying to listen to the independent advice, through the independent pay bodies, offer a settlement to the workforces and then try and bring that to a resolution. But if the trade union leadership think we’re all just going to ignore these independent bodies to suit their agenda then they’ll be mistaken.” In an interview with the Guardian, Nowak predicted that what he called the government’s “war of attrition” against the unions would fail. He said: “The government is going to have to take responsibility. The public will clearly identify where the responsibility lies. Maybe they’ll try and brazen it out until the spring and to the budget but I just don’t think our members are going to sit quietly waiting for that to come. I don’t think promises of jam tomorrow will cut it with people.” He contrasted government calls for below-inflation pay rises with increases in other areas such as company dividends and City bonuses. “If you’re in the public services feeling hard-pressed it feels like the only solution being put forward by government is that you’re expected to show a little bit of pay restraint. You’re the one supposed to suffer. It doesn’t feel like this is a burden fairly shared across the country,” Nowak said. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Nowak said the scope given to the notionally independent pay review bodies by government was too limited. “The pay review body process itself is in danger of being brought into disrepute because the government is hiding behind the pay review bodies, refusing to negotiate on pay and refusing to reach a reasonable settlement with our public sector unions,” he said.