Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to take action after union bosses confirmed major rail strikes will go ahead this week.
Thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the biggest outbreak of industrial action on the railways for 30 years.
Services across the UK will start to be affected from Monday evening, with just one in five trains running on strike days, primarily on main lines and only for around 11 hours. Talks were held into Monday afternoon but the sides remain deadlocked over a deal.
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Mr Shapps had been urged to mediate in the dispute, but in a fiery Commons statement this afternoon the minister refused to take action.
He blamed "union barons" for the move, saying: "Strikes have been created by the unions, organised by the unions and is the full responsibility of the unions."
Mr Shapps said the Government did not have a role in the dispute, saying: "We will be leaving this to the employers."
Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh accused Mr Shapps of a dereliction of duty, adding: "He needs to step up, show some leadership and get unions and employers back around the table.
"Instead of intervening and trying to stop the strikes, he's washing his hands of any responsibility."
Ms Haigh ended by telling Mr Shapps: "Get around the table and do your job."
Explaining the decision to strike, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The RMT National Executive Committee has now found both sets of proposals to be unacceptable and it is now confirmed that the strike action scheduled this week will go ahead.
“It is clear that the Tory Government, after slashing £4bn of funding from National Rail and Transport for London, has now actively prevented a settlement to this dispute. The rail companies have now proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years.
“At the behest of the Government, companies are also seeking to implement thousands of job cuts and have failed to give any guarantee against compulsory redundancies.”
The RMT said rail companies were “attacking” the Railway Pension Scheme and the Transport for London scheme, diluting benefits, making staff work longer and making them poorer in retirement, while having to pay increased contributions.
The union said thousands of jobs were being cut across the rail network with no guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.
Officials also claimed working practices were being changed and disputes over the role and responsibility of the guard were being restarted. Ticket office closures were also being planned, said the RMT.
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