Scotland's transport minister has claimed the UK Government is more interested in "dangerous right wing rhetoric" than solving a dispute with striking rail workers.
Jenny Gilruth pointed to the resolution earlier this month of a row over pay between members of the ASLEF train drivers' union and ScotRail as proof that talks could work.
She accused UK transport minister Grant Shapps of not being prepared to talk directly with the RMT union to solve a separate dispute with Network Rail over jobs and pay.
And Gilruth insisted trade unions had a "legitimate" right to vote for strikes amid claims by Tory leadership candidates that such action could be banned.
It comes as rail services across Scotland have been slashed today as a result of strikes with trains running on just five routes.
Gilruth said: "Network Rail is an arms-length body of the Department for Transport in the UK Government.
"So of course Mr Shapps has a role here, as I did in the previous dispute."
She added: "I am asking him to inject the political willing into this dispute. Minds in Westminster appear to be elsewhere.
"There does not appear to be political focus on resolving this dispute - instead there appears to a belligerence in the UK Government.
"And also as we've heard from the candidates vying to become the next prime minister, they are continuing to hype up right wing rhetoric - including trying to ban trade unions from legitimate action, such as striking, in the future.
"That's really dangerous. That's not what we did in Scotland. We had a respectful dialogue throughout the dispute."
Shapps today described union calls for him to join negotiations to resolve rail strikes as “a complete red herring”.
He told Sky News: "It’s just a game by the unions. It’s a complete red herring as well, by the way, and it’s simply not how strikes are resolved.
"It can only ever be the employer, in this case Network Rail, the train operating companies and the unions."
Liz Truss has also pledged to introduce legislation to stop trade unions trying to "paralyse" the country by introducing a minimum level of service for roads, railways and gas supplies.
Mick Lynch, secretary general of the RMT union, has said he will seek another six month mandate for walkouts when the current one expires towards the end of the year, which raises the prospect of strikes spilling into early next summer.
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