Closing summary: Weekend of travel disruption ahead
There is a weekend of transport strike action ahead, with the tube, overground and some buses closed for the rest of the day in London, and another national rail strike due to start tomorrow morning.
Here is a handy reminder from Transport for London of what services are likely to be affected when – note the national rail strikes due for Saturday as well.
Strikes will affect your journey until 21 Augusthttps://t.co/SAKT5TLuK5
— Transport for London (@TfL) August 19, 2022
❌ No service / severe disruption - avoid travel
⚠ Reduced / irregular service - check before you travel / allow more time for your journey * planned closures
✅ Check before you travel pic.twitter.com/nFRfHzIJ5p
And here is why workers strike: Unite, one of the UK’s largest unions, has on Friday announced two pay rises for transport workers.
Bus drivers employed by Stagecoach working from depots in Aldershot and Guildford have agreed substantial pay increases following negotiations. And a strike at bus company Arriva North West has ended after 29 days after workers voted in favour of a pay deal.
The drivers at the Aldershot bus depot will receive a 13 per cent pay increase while those at the Guildford depot will receive 12.57 per cent. The deal covers a total of 170 members of Unite, the union said. That is more than the 10.1% inflation rate, and means that workers may not lose out, this year at least.
At Arriva North West, 2,000 members across 11 Merseyside garages have voted overwhelmingly (by nearly 10 to one) to accept an 11.1% offer. That will be worth an additional average of £2,300 on the workers’ salaries, equal to an extra £55 per week, Unite said. The workers had rejected a previous offer of a 9.6% annual increase.
You can continue to follow our live coverage from around the world:
In our UK politics coverage, Liz Truss is criticised for doctors’ pay comments as Labour urges Tories to recall parliament on bills crisis
In the Russia-Ukraine war, the UN’s secretary general has urged Moscow not to take nuclear power plant off the grid amid concern over reactor safety
In the US, Americans should focus on Biden’s accomplishments, says his chief of staff
Thank you as ever for following our live coverage today. Please do join us on Monday morning for more. JJ
UK government announces £130m of bus funding in latest bailout
The UK’s transport department has announced £130m of funding for England’s bus network to make up for shortfalls in revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The cash will help to cover six months of operations by the private companies who run England’s buses from October 2022 to March 2023, the government said.
Bus companies – like other parts of the UK’s struggling public transport industry – have been fighting to attract customers back to their routes after passenger numbers slumped during the coronavirus lockdowns.
The government gave bus providers their first bailout (worth £400m) in April 2020 in order to protect routes while passenger numbers were down. Since then the value of funding made available to 160 companies has reached £2bn, the government said on Friday.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary who has had a busy day, said:
At a time when people are worried about rising costs, it’s more important than ever we save these bus routes for the millions who rely on them for work, school and shopping.
The Confederation of Passenger Transport, a lobby group for the bus and coach industry, perhaps unsurprisingly welcomed the money. A CPT spokesperson said:
Today’s announcement will help bus operators and local authority partners to balance a network of reliable and affordable services in the short-term as bus networks adapt to new travel patterns.
For the longer-term, we will continue to work closely with central government and local authorities to encourage existing and new passengers to get on board the country’s buses, ensuring they are provided the best possible services.
Diane Abbott, John McDonnell’s former colleague in Labour’s shadow cabinet under Jeremy Corbyn, is one of several MPs who have joined workers on the picket lines today.
On the picket line with @RMTunion at Seven Sisters @HackneyNorthLab #RMTSolidarity pic.twitter.com/3CLLPVa3N9
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) August 19, 2022
Sam Tarry, the Labour MP for Ilford, lost his job in the shadow cabinet for defying an order by the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, that front benchers should not attend picket lines. On Friday he posted another picture of himself with striking workers in London.
Solidarity with @RMTunion and @unitetheunion workers striking today in London to protect jobs and pensions and fighting for better pay and conditions.
— Sam Tarry MP (@SamTarry) August 19, 2022
Your struggle is the struggle of workers up and down the country who've had enough of this relentless attack on their rights. pic.twitter.com/PvGzZI2KlM
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, another left-wing Labour MP, visited a picket line in Brixton, south London.
Proud to join the @RMTunion picket line this morning at Brixton Station.
— Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (@BellRibeiroAddy) August 19, 2022
Solidarity with all London Underground workers striking to defend their terms, conditions and job security. pic.twitter.com/km36zUFGVs
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said the UK government should match public-sector pay increases to inflation.
Matching consumer price index inflation of 10.1% annually would imply billions of pounds of extra spending, and many economists including the Bank of England would argue that it would itself feed through into higher inflation.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he said:
I think that’s the only way that we can protect them [households] from sinking into, in some instances, poverty.
McDonnell said the roots of the discontent go back 12 years to the global financial crisis, and the austerity policies brought in by the Conservative government in its aftermath. He said:
There’s a build-up of a whole range of unions, some of whom have never been on strike before, faced with members saying to them, ‘We cannot survive with the wages we have at the moment’.
We need to inflation-proof our wages. The unions are responding to their members.
McDonnell argued that most of the inflationary pressure facing the UK is from external factors, citing the Bank of England. Those pressures are coming from supply chain snarl-ups caused by Covid-19 lockdowns (most notably in China) and the surge in energy prices accelerated by concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin will cut off gas supplies to Europe as part of his response to his country’s isolation following its invasion of Ukraine.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has blamed the unions for not putting a pay offer to a vote of members for London’s strikes.
The union has the backing of members for the strike action, after receiving 91.1% of votes in favour in a ballot in late June that drew a 53.1% turnout.
But Shapps wants the union to put an offered pay rise of 8% over two years to members. That is significantly lower than the 10.1% level of inflation in a single year, and would therefore imply that workers receive a real-terms pay cut.
Shapps told the BBC radio:
It’s certainly enormously disruptive, particularly in the capital today where the strikes are focused. But look, overall I don’t think there’s any reason to be having these strikes at all.
A very fair pay offer has gone on the table on the wider network of 8% over two years. This is no compulsory redundancies in return for modernising work practices that should have gone out with the ark.
If only the union bosses would actually put that offer to their members I’m pretty sure this strike would be over.
Sadiq Khan has been on the media rounds today. He has told BBC London that he believes the current government is “anti-London”.
This is building on his earlier criticism that the government is using the strikes as an opportunity to provoke unions into industrial action that may be unpopular with some segments of the population.
Khan said:
Of course I understand their concerns. I’m the person who has been vocal about the concerns that Londoners have, including transport workers, businesses, about some of the conditions the government’s been trying to attach.
I think this is an anti-London government. I think they’ve been trying to use this as an opportunity to provoke the trade unions, and I worry that we’re falling into the government’s trap.
What today does is give the government an opportunity to criticise trade unions, transport workers […] It’s Londoners who have done nothing wrong who are caught in the crossfire.
Liz Truss’s plans to “crack down” on strikes by British workers (following the lead set by her predecessor) comes with workers all over the country considering industrial action.
Workers at airport security and bin collections are among those considering action today. They would add to a long list of sectors in which workers have raised the possibility of strikes or taken action this summer.
Those sectors include (take a big breath): barristers, tram drivers, train drivers, rail workers, bus drivers, post office workers, telecoms engineers, doctors, teachers, nurses, civil servants, airport ground staff, check-in staff and hospital cleaners.
Workers doing bin collections in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are the latest to announce a walk-out. Members of the GMB will strike on 31 August and the stoppage will continue until employer Serco makes an improved pay offer, the union said on Friday.
The union said a 6% offer has been rejected by members, adding that rates of pay in the borough are below those in neighbouring authorities.
Nikki Dancey, GMB’s regional officer, said:
This is one of the most expensive areas in the country to live and this pay offer neither reflects that, nor the current rate of inflation, or the attached cost-of-living crisis.
There is also some evidence that strikes eventually deliver benefits to workers. Airport security staff at Leeds Bradford Airport have suspended a strike so workers can be consulted over an improved pay offer.
Members of the GMB were set to walk out for three days next week over pay following a ballot vote of 93% in favour of industrial action.
Joe Wheatley, GMB’s negotiator, said:
Following a number of commitments put forward by Leeds Bradford bosses to improve pay, we now need to fully consult with our members working in security at the airport.
GMB‘s strike committee has agreed to suspend next week’s planned strike action to give us the facility, time and space to consider the new, improved offer with our members.
Liz Truss pledges 'crackdown on debilitating strikes'
The frontrunner to be the UK’s next prime minister has made her views on unions clear: she has approvingly tweeted a report that she intends to make striking more difficult.
“New laws will make it harder to call strikes and also guarantee minimum levels of service are maintained on public transport”, according to a report by the Daily Express, a newspaper which is strongly pro-government and is supporting Truss in the Conservative leadership race.
The rule changes could include raising the threshold for strike action – already fairly stringent in the UK – and limit the number of strikes unions can carry out once they have received the backing of votes.
She will push through changes “within a month of becoming Prime Minister”, the Express reported.
As Prime Minister, I will not let our country be held to ransom by militant trade unionists.
— Liz for Leader (@trussliz) August 19, 2022
💬 @Daily_Express: https://t.co/hGjPNPZLqH pic.twitter.com/AhzPtfbk0b
The European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) describes UK strike laws as “complex and multi-layered with detailed regulations introduced by Conservative governments over years”. This already includes a requirement for 40% of the total workforce (including those who don’t vote) to vote in favour of action.
If the strike is in important public services, 4⃣0⃣% of the total workforce must vote in favour of the action.
— EPSU (@EPSUnions) August 19, 2022
👮🏽♀️👮🏽♂️Polices are also limited in terms of union membership and the right to strike. There are also further restrictions for postal workers, seamen and prison officers. pic.twitter.com/1wBOOAUbGl
To add to the transport disruption, Thameslink reported this morning that all lines via Royston were blocked… by a balloon.
The balloon got caught in overhead wires, the rail operator said. Thameslink, run by Govia, is the UK’s largest rail franchise, operating lines such as those between Bedford and Brighton through London.
⚠️ We have been advised that a balloon is caught on the overhead electric wires at Royston.
— Thameslink (@TLRailUK) August 19, 2022
Your journey will be delayed by up to 15 minutes.
ℹ️ More to follow.
The balloon has since been removed, and the line has been reopened. Here was the offending item:
🎈 Apologies for the delay today, we're hoping to get you on the move as quickly as possible.
— Thameslink (@TLRailUK) August 19, 2022
🎫 Tickets will also be accepted on alternative Thameslink/Great Northern routes to help reach your intended destination. pic.twitter.com/R8GNbiGbZS
Updated
There is heavy road traffic in some areas of London as people try to find their way around the strikes, according to BBC Radio London.
Here are some of the worst of the queues this morning due to the #TubeStrike - the #A4 into town from Hammersmith to Earl's Court, all approaches to the Holland Park Roundabout, the #A501 Grays Inn Rd up towards King's Cross and The Highway approaching Tower Bridge pic.twitter.com/8rd4F49vNu
— BBC Radio London Travel (@BBCTravelAlert) August 19, 2022
Sadiq Khan says government may be 'deliberately provoking' London strikes
London mayor Sadiq Khan has accused the UK government of “deliberately provoking” tube, overground and bus strikes that he said could harm the capital’s recovery from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m concerned that the government is almost deliberately provoking industrial action in London”, Khan said in an interview with Sky News on Friday morning.
Khan has oversight of Transport for London (TfL), which employs many of the workers on the tube and London overground rail who are striking on Friday. The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union is negotiating with TfL, but at the same time TfL is negotiating over its longer-term funding with the government.
The government had to step in to bail out TfL, which is usually heavily reliant on fare income, after ticket sales slumped at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. RMT leader Mick Lynch has said workers are being caught up in the “stalemate” between the government and the mayor.
In a separate interview with the Press Association, Khan said:
I am frustrated by the strikes today. It’s ordinary Londoners, commuters and businesses who will be affected today at a time we’re trying to get a recovery.
If we were speaking in January, the amount of people using the tube was about 45% versus pre-pandemic [levels].
It’s now more than 70%, I worry that next week when public transport is running fully, we’ll have fewer people using public transport which limits our ability to make a full recovery sooner.
Updated
RMT union leader Mick Lynch said he was “very sorry” people were facing disruption from strikes, but added that workers needed to protect themselves from being “cut to pieces by an employer, and by the government”.
He said transport workers were “making a stand” and warned that there would likely be more industrial action, amid 10.1% annual consumer price index inflation that is causing real wages to fall for millions of workers.
Lynch said (via the Press Association):
So we’re making that stand on behalf of our members, but many other workers in Britain are suffering some very similar things and you’re going to see a wave of this type of action. We can’t stand by and watch our conditions be chopped up. Otherwise, it’ll just be a race to the bottom for all British workers.
Lynch, who is general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, also said negotiations over a fresh pay agreement in the new year could be a “really difficult” period.
We haven’t got a pay issue on London Underground at the minute because we’re still in the long-term deal that’s hanging over from the last pay agreement, but we’ll have a pay agreement going into the new year, where we’ll be looking for negotiations.
That’s going to be a really difficult period. So the issues that are involved in London Underground may get more serious and right across TfL, because they haven’t got any funding from the government, it’s going to be difficult.
RMT leader Mick Lynch: TfL workers caught in 'stalemate' between government and mayor
Union leader Mick Lynch has criticised the way the capital is run as he said that Transport for London workers have been caught in a “stalemate” between the government and the city’s mayor.
TfL has been forced to negotiate repeated short-term funding packages with the Westminster government to make up for the shortfall in fare revenues since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lynch on Friday said mayor Sadiq Khan was “offering our members’ terms and conditions as a hostage to get the funding of the railway, and the bus services as well”.
Asked whether he thinks there will be an offer to workers on pay and conditions, Lynch said:
We would hope so. They’ve got to get us around the table so we can talk about their issues, but at the minute there’s been a big stalemate.
That stalemate starts between the two authorities, which are the government and the mayor. It’s very difficult for us to know what’s going on. There’s not any meaningful discussion between us and the employer because the employer doesn’t know how much money it’s going to have. That’s not a way to run a major global city.
We’ve got to have a settlement that allows the people of London to get a decent transport system and the workers on that system to be assured of their future.
Updated
Railway reforms at the heart of some strike action will be imposed by legislation if workers do not agree to new deals, the transport secretary has suggested.
Asked by Sky News if compulsory redundancies were on the table for rail workers, Grant Shapps repeated accusations that it was“union barons” to blame for failing to put offers to their members.
Shapps also claimed that outdated work practices needed to be updated, adding: “If we can’t get those modernisations in place we will have to impose those modernisations but we would much rather do it through these offers actually being put to their members.”
He gave an example of an offer made to RMT members of an 8% pay rise over two years, which was reportedly blocked by senior members of the union including the RMT’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, without putting it to its members.
You can read the full report here:
More from Transport for London’s Nick Dent, this time in response to RMT claims that the transport operator is having secret negotiations with the government about cutting jobs and pensions.
Dent said TfL has been working with ministers “all the way through the pandemic to try to secure a long-term funding settlement for London”.
TfL has lived hand to mouth since the start of the pandemic, when it lost billions of pounds worth of revenues as people stayed off the tube. The government has stepped in with repeated short-term bailouts, but not without a cost: TfL has been forced by ministers to find savings and review pensions in previous rounds of emergency funding.
TfL is usually run by the mayor of London, who since 2016 has been Labour’s Sadiq Khan.
Dent told Sky News:
We of course conduct those negotiations confidentially. They are market-sensitive. We’ve explained that very clearly to the trade unions.
But we have been working with all of the trade unions, including the RMT, we’ve been very open and transparent about the impact of the pandemic on our finances all the way through the last couple of years.
We’ve assured them that we’ll continue to keep them updated. But, importantly, we have assured them that there are no proposals currently to change the TfL pension scheme, and if there were proposals in the future, then of course they will be consulted in detail. They’ll be involved very closely.
Nick Dent, Transport for London’s director of customer operations, said it was “a difficult day” for travel in the capital.
He told Sky News (via Press Association):
It is going to be a difficult day. We have done everything we can to avoid this strike going ahead today.
Unfortunately, the disruption is going to be pretty significant to London today. We’re advising customers not to travel on the Tube at all.
Downing Street yesterday denied that ministers are deliberately seeking a political fight with rail unions, as both sides toughened their language further and the head of the RMT warned the impasse could continue “indefinitely”.
No 10 and the Department for Transport (DfT) have faced accusations from opposition parties of not seriously trying to find a solution to the rail strike, instead using bellicose language and seeking to blame Labour for union action, report the Guardian’s Peter Walker, Pippa Crerar and Tom Ambrose.
But with no sign of the strikes easing, and other sectors planning or considering action, Downing Street denied the government was seeking a fight.
“The priority is on making sure people who use public transport can get to work, school and hospital appointments without such disruption,” a No 10 source said.
However, in a notably pugnacious statement, a DfT spokesperson accused the RMT of “opting to inflict misery and disrupt the day-to-day lives of millions instead of working with industry to agree a deal that will bring our railways into the 21st century”.
You can read the full story here:
There are 8.8m people in London out of a total UK population of about 67m, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), so transport strikes in the capital affect a large proportion of Britain’s workers.
Transport for London (TfL) advises people to avoid travel on the Tube if possible, and only travel on the rest of the network if essential.
From its updates page:
Tube: severe disruption on all lines. Little to no services throughout the day. No Night Tube
London Overground: late start. No Night Overground
Elizabeth line – normal service from 07:00; some trains may not stop at all central stations after 22:30
Trams: reduced service
DLR: services into Bank running 07:00-18:30. All other services running normally
Buses: services affected in west and south west London and parts of Surrey. Impact on the following routes: 9, 18, 33, 49, 65, 70, 71, 72, 85, 94, 105, 110, 116, 117, 148, 203, 211, 216, 220, 223, 224, 235, 258, 265, 266, 272, 281, 283, 290, 293, 371, 404, 406, 411, 418, 419, 423, 440, 465, 467, 470, 481, C1, E1, E3, H17, H22, H32, H37, H91, H98, K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, N9, N18, N33, N65, N72, N266 and S3. No Night Bus services on affected routes
Coaches: likely to be very busy
National rail services across Great Britain are also likely to be affected throughout the day as a hangover from yesterday’s strike action by 45,000 rail workers mainly from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), in long-running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.
There would have been very little service before 08:00, and the disruption usually means that many of the trains are in the wrong place the morning after – which itself has a knock-on effect even when workers return.
Updated
Transport secretary threatens imposition of rail reforms
Railway reforms will be imposed if workers do not agree to new deals, the transport secretary Grant Shapps has said.
The Conservative party has repeatedly targeted unions with criticism, in a move that the Trades Union Congress has argued it is deliberately “picking a fight” for electoral purposes.
Shapps is likely to remain transport secretary until at least 5 September, when a new Conservative party leader – likely to be Liz Truss if recent polls are correct – will be in place. There is little sign that there would be a change of attitude under a new leader.
Asked on Friday by Sky News if compulsory redundancies were on the table for rail workers, Grant Shapps said (the Press Association reports):
The deal that is on the table actually means largely no compulsory redundancies at all.
If [the unions] are not prepared to put that deal to your membership we will never know whether members would accept it.
What I do know and I can say for sure is if we can’t get this settled in the way that we are proposing, which is ‘please put the deal to your membership’ then we will have to move to what is called a section 188; it is a process of actually requiring these changes to go into place so it becomes mandated. That is the direction that this is moving in now.
Shapps claimed that outdated work practices needed to be updated – a characterisation of the industry that is disputed by the unions, who argue that employers are trying to use modernisation as an excuse to reduce members’ real pay and conditions. Shapps said: “If we can’t get those modernisations in place we will have to impose those modernisations but we would much rather do it through these offers actually being put to their members.”
Updated
London strikes start; surprise increase in retail sales in Great Britain
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of business, economics and financial markets.
Travel in the UK’s capital will be severely disrupted on Friday as workers strike over pay and conditions.
Members of the RMT and Unite unions working on the tube and overground rail will strike. Unite members on bus routes in the capital run by London United are also striking in a separate dispute over pay.
RMT boss Mick Lynch, who has been probably the most prominent advocate for strikes in the media, has joined workers on a picket line this morning:
The big man has joined us. @RMTunion #TubeStrike pic.twitter.com/U4OMgiAXUD
— RMT Piccadilly & District West (@PiccadillyRmt) August 19, 2022
Separately, retail sales in Great Britain rose unexpectedly in July, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Retail sales volumes rose by 0.3% in July, following a fall of 0.2% in June (which was revised down from a fall of 0.1%), the ONS said.
The bump was not expected by economists, who had predicted a 0.2% decline in July, with inflation above 10% expected to eat into consumers’ spending power.
Yet the overall picture of a consumer economy that is slowing remains: sales volumes were 2.3% above their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) February 2020 levels, but down 3.3% over the past year.
We will have more detail for you soon.
Updated
