Summary of the day …
Shadow home secretary and candidate for the Conservative leadership James Cleverly has said “the Labour government has been played by its union paymasters” after Aslef announced 22 days of strikes on LNER routes in a dispute over working conditions. Labour says rail strikes under Rishi Sunak’s government cost over £800m in lost revenue. Chris Philp, shadow leader of the House of Commons, claimed “it has taken Labour barely a month to lose control of state sector pay”
The move came a day after Aslef seemed poised to accept a new national pay deal over three years. Shadow transport minister Kieran Mullan said the new strike announcement was “a taste of what is to come”. Labour’s paymaster general Nick Thomas-Symonds defended Labour’s handling of the long-running dispute pay dispute, saying “We promised we would sit down and find solutions … The last government’s rail minister didn’t even meet the trade union leaders from January of 2023. We always said we would engage, and we have”
The government has said that 460 people arrested in connection with violent disorder earlier this month have appeared in court and at least 99 have already been sentenced
After the publication of A-level, T-level and BTec results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland yesterday, a total of 388,630 UK-based applicants have now been accepted on university courses. The figures also show that 51,850 international students have now been accepted on courses, down very slightly on 52,120 at this point last year
Ipsos has published its monthly issues index, where it interviews people about what they think the major issues facing the country are. Immigration, healthcare and the economy head the list
Conservative leadership candidate Priti Patel has defended the previous government’s record on migration, saying it was “lazy” to suggest net migration was too high
Retail sales volumes rose by 0.5% in July, the Office for National Statistics reported. That follows a fall of 0.9% in June when households cut back amid poor weather, and election uncertainty
Poplar and Limehouse MP Apsana Begum and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell are among those who have expressed support online today for members of the RMT union working in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) who are striking today
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has announced there will be a consultation on how to deal with the ticket tout trade in the autumn in a video heavily laced with references to Taylor Swift
Sadiq Khan is set to close London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) scrappage scheme in three weeks
People have been remembering the 205th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre
Four of the candidates for the leadership of the Scottish Conservatives – Murdo Fraser, Brian Whittle, Liam Kerr and Jamie Greene – have issued a joint statement today expressing “deep concern” at the alleged conduct of the current party leader Douglas Ross. The statement comes in the wake of an overnight report in the Telegraph which claimed “Ross plotted to quit as Scottish Tory leader more than a year ago and install the current favourite – Russell Findlay – to replace him as his successor”
That is it from me today, thank you for reading, I will see you soon.
Conservative shadow transport minister Kieran Mullan has said the Aslef decision to call strikes on LNER routes was “a taste of what is to come” under the new Labour government.
Attempting to conflate the LNER dispute over working practices with the national pay dispute that lasted for two years under the Tory administration and which is estimated by Labour ministers to have cost the railways over £800m in lost revenue, Mullan said:
After a no-strings-attached offer to throw cash at a Labour-backing union, it should shock nobody that more strikes are on the cards. It’s a taste of what is to come: a nationalised train service seeing Labour-backing unions staging walkouts despite a bumper pay deal. All Labour are doing is encouraging the unions into more of this anti-passenger action, putting our rail network at the beck and call of unions whilst passengers pay the price.
Earlier paymaster general Nick Thomas-Symonds defended Labour’s handling of the long-running dispute pay dispute, saying “We promised we would sit down and find solutions, and people expressed scepticism about that, but actually that is precisely what we have done in government.”
Speaking during the morning media round, Thomas-Symonds added “The last government’s rail minister didn’t even meet the trade union leaders from January of 2023. We always said we would engage, and we have.”
Yesterday, transport secretary Louise Haigh said the Conservative government had deliberately provoked and prolonged the dispute. Shadow home secretary and candidate for the Conservative leadership James Cleverly said Labour had been “played by its union paymasters”.
The LNER route on the east coast mainline was taken into state ownership when Conservative Chris Grayling was transport secretary. He appointed the “operator of last resort” – a group led by the firm Arup and under government control – to run the service, rather than allow Stagecoach and Virgin to continue their franchise under fresh terms.
Aslef drivers are set to walk out for 22 days of action spread over weekends later this year. Mick Whelan, Aslef general secretary, said: “the company has brutally, and repeatedly, broken diagramming and roster agreements, failed to adhere to the agreed bargaining machinery, and totally acted in bad faith. When we make an agreement, we stick to it. This company doesn’t and we are not prepared to put up with their boorish behaviour and bullying tactics.”
“Diagramming” is a statement of work instructing a driver of the routes to be run and other non-driving tasks during a shift, like coupling/decoupling trains, and where a shift starts and ends.
