The biggest rail strike in 30 years will begin at midnight causing "misery" for passengers across the country as Tory ministers tried to shift the blame on to workers.
Members of the RMT union will walk out for the first of three separate days of strike action on June 21 unless an 11th hour deal can be reached.
It means just five routes in Scotland will have trains running on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with large parts of the country cut off from the network completely.
ScotRail is not involved in the dispute but services north of the Border will still be disrupted as trains rely on Network Rail staff.
Labour and the SNP have all accused the UK Government of deliberately picking a fight with railway workers and failing to engage a positive way with union bosses.
Network Rail - which is ultimately controlled by Tory ministers in Westminster - wants to slash hundreds of maintenance jobs which are viewed as essential by the RMT.
Chief Treasury secretary Simon Clarke said today he was sorry for the “misery” the disruption will cause - but claimed it was not up to the UK Government to resolve the dispute behind the biggest walkout in the industry for more than 30 years.
"I fear it is likely they will go ahead," he said. "I think the public do this week need to be aware there will be very substantial disruption and it is therefore sensible to make preparations for that.”
The strikes are set to cripple services on the railways and London Underground from Tuesday, with increased traffic expected to choke roads.
Labour's Louise Haigh said the UK Government was “hobbling” the talks between unions and rail operators.
“At the moment, without the Government there, the negotiations are a sham,” she told the BBC.
“It’s not possible for them to find a resolution and avoid the dispute without the Government being represented at the talks, setting a mandate for the train operators and providing genuine scope in order to find a resolution.
“Without them there, it’s impossible for them to find a way forward and, therefore, it is inevitable that industrial action will happen.”
Clarke insisted the UK Government would “continue to support” negotiations between rail companies and unions but that it did not “control all the levers” and that getting involved would “confuse things”.
“Ultimately this is a matter between the employers – the train operating companies and Network Rail – and the trade unions, and the Government doesn’t sit directly as a part of those talks for a very good reason – that we don’t intervene in a specific process between an employer and the unions representing employees, but we are there to provide the support and enabling framework for those talks to succeed.”
He said the train operating companies and Network Rail were working to “deliver a sensible programme of reform and a sensible and fair pay deal” with the trade unions, and that “no-one is suggesting there’s some kind of pay freeze required here”.
With the RMT union calling for a seven per cent pay rise to keep up with soaring prices, Clarke ruled out increases in line with inflation, which the Bank of England forecast would top 11 per cent in the autumn.
“We have an inflation problem in this country… if we don’t want that problem to either intensify or prolong itself, then we need to be sensible around pay awards,” he said.
The Cabinet minister called for reforms of the country’s “seriously outdated” railway practices.
He said: “We need to see reform of some of the practices that make our railway a very unsustainable entity at the moment."
SNP Gavin Newlands said: "Whether its tube strikes in Labour-run London, or RMT strikes across Network Rail, it is imperative that these strikes aren't used as a political football to attack workers who are only trying to get a better deal for themselves during a Tory-made cost of living crisis.
"Sadly though, that is exactly what the UK government are trying to do – with Grant Shapps being nothing more than a Tory cheerleader to this new Tory culture war.
"Their actions are designed to undermine unions, while doing nothing to resolve the disputes. It is unacceptable that Network Rail employees have had no pay rise for two years and are under threat of compulsory redundancies."
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