Transport Secretary Mark Harper clashed with the boss of the militant RMT union on Tuesday over who is to blame for inflicting Christmas season misery by paralysing England’s rail network.
On the first day of a series of walk-outs by train workers, the two men were embroiled in a war of words over the industrial action as many commuters struggled to get to work in freezing conditions. Mr Harper said the Government would not blink first in the “Winter of Discontent” stand-off with unions striking on the railways, the NHS and in other sectors.
Condemning the RMT walkouts this month, he told GB News: “These rail strikes are going to force some families to have another virtual Christmas. That is terrible when the unions have had a very reasonable pay offer.”
But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch hit back, saying: “I have no intention of spoiling people’s Christmas. The Government is contributing to that spoiling of the people’s Christmas because they’ve brought these strikes on by stopping the companies from making suitable proposals.”
In a tetchy interview on Good Morning Britain, Mr Lynch was grilled by presenter Richard Madeley over whether the rail strikes were targeting people at Christmas and could put hoteliers, restaurateurs and retailers out of business during a normally busy time of year.
Mr Lynch responded: “We’re not targeting Christmas. It isn’t Christmas yet, Richard, I don’t know when your Christmas starts but mine starts on Christmas Eve.” But Mr Madeley branded that statement as “disingenuous”, adding: “Commercial Christmas starts in December, you know that.”
Later, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, a clearly irritated Mr Lynch took several swipes at presenter Mishal Husain when she asked him about whether the RMT was losing support for its strike and how much its members were “sacrificing” in lost pay.
However, as the Government and unions battled for public support as they dug in on their positions, Mr Harper repeatedly refused to deny that he had made one of the conditions of a deal to end the dispute as more driver-only trains.
“They know we can never accept that,” Mr Lynch told the Standard, accusing the Government of “torpedoing” the latest round of talks.
Meanwhile, official figures showed average regular pay growth for the private sector was 6.9 per cent in August to October 2022, while it was just 2.7 per cent for the public sector.
The gap is likely to fuel demands from public sector workers for pay settlements which get closer to inflation, which hit 11.1 per cent in October.
The number of working days lost to strikes rose to 417,000 in October, the highest level in more than a decade.
Network Rail said only about 20 per cent of services were running today nationally — 4,000 rather than 20,000 trains. Southeastern had no trains in or out of Charing Cross or Victoria. South Western Railway was only able to run four of its routes into Waterloo, and at reduced frequencies.
At Euston this morning, more trains were departing than during previous strikes. London Overground services did not start until 7.30am and were due to end by 6.30pm. The Elizabeth line also had reduced hours on its eastern and western branches.
Some Tube services were hit by the knock-on impact of the strikes. Separate data from Place Informatics showed that footfall dropped to the capital’s “destinations” by a fifth during strike months, with Mayfair and Oxford Street worst hit.
Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines admitted that it was hard to see hope in the negotiations on the strikes as he accused unions of clinging onto outdated working practices.
The RMT is pressing ahead with two 48-hour strikes at Network Rail — and 14 train companies — from today and Friday, with an overtime ban and more walkouts in January threatening a month of disruption.
RMT workers at Network Rail will also strike from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27.
Meanwhile, talks to avert the nursing strike have failed, with Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen accusing Health Secretary Steve Barclay of “belligerence” and refusing to discuss pay. Nurses now seem set to begin their first day of strike action on Thursday, with a second date set for Tuesday.
But Mr Harper defended the pay offer to unions as fair, stressing: “It’s very important that we actually are mindful of the interest of the wider public and the taxpayer.” He added that taxis had been “block booked” to take non-emergency patients to hospital when ambulance workers walk out on December 21 and 28.
