Communities secretary Eric Pickles has stoutly defended his plans to rein in trade union activity within the DCLG – following the start of legal proceedings over the department's decision to scrap how union subscriptions are collected from staff salaries.

His stance follows the news that the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents 270,000, mainly blue collar central government staff, is seeking a legal injunction following Eland House's recent move to end the established system of collecting trade union subscriptions through salaries– know as the ‘check off'.