A series of wildcat strikes in Britain against the use of foreign workers has drawn an angry reaction in Italy.

Thousands of workers at more than a dozen oil refineries, gas terminals and power stations in Britain staged a series of illegal walkouts on Friday in sympathy with a protest at a Total refinery in Lincolnshire. The protests were triggered by the award of a contract to IREM, an Italian engineering company, which the strikers claim intends to bring in its own staff from Portugal and Italy.