LABOUR’S Ian Austin took a swipe yesterday at hard-pressed Passport Office workers who are battling for more staff and fair pay amid a growing departmental crisis.

Dudley MP Mr Austin unleashed his right-wing attack on passport staff union PCS during a session of the Commons home affairs committee.

PCS group secretary Mike Jones told the committee how his union had hit a management “brick wall” in its efforts to sort out the passport backlog.

He made no specific threat of industrial action, but told MPs that the union would be consulting its members about the crisis.

Mr Austin suddenly boomed that it would be “completely irresponsible” for the union to bring its members out on strike “at a time when hard-working taxpayers are desperately worried about getting passports to go on holiday.”

Earlier, Mr Jones told the committee that the backlog of passport applications had grown to 493,289, while 550 jobs had been lost since 2010.