A four-hour occupation of  Remploy’s head office in Leicester has ended after the Disabilities Minister, Maria Miller agreed to a demand for urgent talks about the government’s timetable for the closure or sale of the agency’s remaining factories.

Jackie Mayer, a Unite rep who took part the action, told UnnionNews: “We wanted answers to questions that we’ve waited months for and it took us going in there and refusing to move, to get something done.

“We’re downing tools in Chesterfield next month and I hope this will encourage people to join in.

“We won’t be sold down the river and I hope today’s action will give people a little spur to carry on.”

Senior union officials say the action has ‘exploded the fiction’ that Coalition ministers have no role in the closure programme.

No date has been set for the talks, however workers at two key factories, in Derbyshire and Scotland, are due to begin four days of strike action on 3 September.

More details to come.