Striking teachers and cuts protestors took to the streets of Truro this morning, to rally against government plans to change public sector pensions.

The rally, on Lemon Quay, got underway at 10am and saw speakers from the unions and organisations involved in the dispute address a crowd of more than 100 people.

Teachers and other public sector workers are protesting government's plans to raise pension contributions, increase retirement ages and switch workers from final salary schemes to career-average pensions.

John Parker-Rees, a lecturer at the University College Falmouth, was on the piazza representing the University College Union (UCU).

"We are on strike because when we took our jobs we negotiated contracts under the understanding that although our pay would be low, we would have a decent pension," he said.

"Now our employers are moving the goalposts. As we are reaching retirement age, they are telling us that we are going to have to work longer for a lower pension, which is basically a pay cut."

Nationally, more than a quarter of a million civil servants have joined teachers represented by the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the UCU in co-ordinated strike action against government policy.

Among the other protestors present in Truro were concerned parents and children, as well as representatives from the Cornwall Anti-Cuts Alliance.