Labour’s North of Tyne mayor has spoken out in support of an MP sacked from his frontbench post after joining striking rail workers on the picket line.
Jamie Driscoll said that politicians should “stand up for what they believe” after Sam Tarry was axed as the party’s shadow transport minister, having earlier appeared alongside RMT union members in London on Wednesday. Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that Mr Tarry was sacked for conducting media interviews without permission and making up policy “on the hoof”, rather than for defying a ban joining rail strike picket lines.
The sacking has sparked a furious reaction from unions and the left wing of the Labour Party, with GMB general secretary Gary Smith calling it a “huge own goal” for Labour to “turn a Tory transport crisis into a Labour story”. Train services across the country are set to be crippled once again when thousands of workers stage another walkout this Saturday in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
