Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, has accused Grant Shapps of “spouting nonsense” as a war of words broke out between the two men while rail strikes wreak havoc across the country.
Mr Lynch took aim at the Transport Secretary over the Government’s plans to introduce new laws to allow flexible workers, including agency staff, to cover for those on strike during future industrial action.
The union boss claimed the Government wanted to use “students or people who have got no work experience that are working for an agency” to fill roles and “as usual he’s just spouting nonsense given to him from some policy unit which doesn’t help to resolve the situations which are in front of us”.
But Mr Shapps accused the RMT leader of wanting to transform himself into one of the “1970s union barons”.
He rejected the suggestion that the law change was about using agency workers and insisted it is actually about allowing workers who are “fully qualified and trained” to switch to other roles during industrial action to “provide more flexibilities on our railways”.
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Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said new laws to allow flexible workers, including agency staff, to cover for those on strike could be introduced within months.
He told LBC radio: “We are going to change the law to ensure there can be much more flexibility, the law which is sometimes referred to as agency is actually more about transferability.
“That sort of modernisation can be achieved, if we can’t get it by agreement with the unions, by changing the law. And we will change the law in rapid order in the next month or two to ensure that transferable skills are allowed.”
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has accused Grant Shapps of “spouting nonsense” amid a row over Government plans to reduce the impact of future strikes.
The Government is planning to change the law to make it easier to fill gaps in the workforce during future strikes by allowing workers who are qualified in other areas to perform alternative roles.
The law change will reportedly allow flexible workers, including agency staff, to cover for those on strike.
Mr Lynch said: “Well, I don’t know how bringing in untrained, non-safety critical, inexperienced workers into a dangerous environment like the railway with high-speed trains, there are high voltage distribution systems, there are rules and regulations that have the power of statute, how that will help anyone, whether they are a passenger or a worker or manager or whatever.
“I don’t see how the use, the deployment, of students or people who have got no work experience that are working for an agency will help anyone to resolve this situation so as usual he’s just spouting nonsense given to him from some policy unit which doesn’t help to resolve the situations which are in front of us.”
Boris Johnson has told his Cabinet that the nation needs to "get ready to stay the course" on strike action.
“We need the union barons to sit down with Network Rail and the train companies and get on with it,” he said.
“We need, I’m afraid, everybody, and I say this to the country as a whole, we need to get ready to stay the course.
“To stay the course, because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railways are in the interests of the travelling public, they will help to cut costs for farepayers up and down the country.”
He insisted a modernisation programme is also in the interests of workers because “if we don’t do this, these great companies, this great industry, will face further financial pressure, it will go bust and the result will be they have to hike up the cost of tickets still further”.
That would result in the “disaster” of declining rail use, he warned.
Boris Johnson has told his Cabinet that the rail strikes are causing “significant disruption and inconvenience up and down the country”.
They were making it “more difficult for people to get to work, risking people’s appointments, making it more difficult for kids to sit exams – all sorts of unnecessary aggravations”.
He set out why he believed the strikes were “so wrong and so unnecessary”, pointing to the levels of support offered to the industry during the pandemic and the “colossal” investment in rail infrastructure.
Pat McFadden, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said he did not support Kate Osborne's decision to join a picket line this morning (see the post below at 09.12).
Ms Osborne is the Labour MP for Jarrow and she is also an aide for the party's shadow Northern Ireland team. Labour frontbenchers have been told not to join pickets.
Asked if he supported Ms Osborne's decision, Mr McFadden told Sky News: “No, I don’t think that is the way that this will be resolved. I think it will be resolved by the union, the employers and hopefully the Government being involved in recahing a deal that allows the railways to resume operation and that is what I want to see as quickly as possible.”
Asked if he expected Ms Osborne to be disciplined, he said: "That is a matter for the whips and for Keir Starmer. It is not something I would be involved in.”
Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT, has called for trade unions to "coordinate" future strike action "so that it has the most effect possible" (see the post below at 09.00).
Pat McFadden, Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, was asked if such action would be something that Labour would support and he told Sky News: “No, it is not. We very much regret that it has come to this strike. It will cause enormous inconvenience to the public… we have got this strike today, others scheduled later in the week, perhaps the bigger threat of ongoing industrial disputes through the summer.
“No one wants to see this. We want to see this brought to an end as quickly as possible with a deal that allows the railways to work and the travelling public to get to work and all the other uses that people make of the railway system.”
Labour frontbenchers have been told they are banned from attending picket lines today (you can read the full story here).
Party officials have told shadow cabinet members and their aides to "not be on picket lines" this week, according to a memo seen by the PoliticsHome website.
Kate Osborne, the Labour MP for Jarrow who is also an aide for the party's shadow Northern Ireland team, appears to have ignored the instruction.
She tweeted: "I'm a trade unionist, I will always stand on the side of the workers."
Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT, has called for trade unions to "coordinate" future strike action "so that it has the most effect possible".
He was asked this morning if he would support other unions in other sectors going on strike and he told Sky News: “My advice to unions is to campaign on the issues and ultimately if the Government and the employers do not change their direction I believe more ballots for strike action are inevitable and more action is inevitable.
“What I would say to trade union leaders and trade union activists is we need to coordinate and synchronise our campaigning so that we can rebalance the inequalities in our society.”
Asked what he meant by "synchronise", Mr Lynch said: “Well we need to coordinate the action. So we need mass rallies, we need people on the streets, we need protests in every town and city in Britain and if we have to have industrial action we should coordinate that industrial action so that it has the most effect possible.”
Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT, said the union is "very sorry for the disruption" being caused by the industrial action this week.
He told Sky News: “My message to the travelling public is that we are very sorry for the disruption that has been caused, we don’t want to do that, we want to get a settlement to this dispute.
“But like everyone else, many members of the travelling public are suffering from the austerity imposed by the Government, both in the private sector and the public sector.
“Profits are rampant, dividends are up, shares are up. The only people that aren’t making any money at the moment are working people around Britain who are struggling.”
Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT union, said Grant Shapps is welcome to join negotiations on resolving the rail dispute about pay, jobs and conditions.
He told Sky News: “Well it is a mess created by Grant Shapps and Government policy. We could get a solution to this dispute, Grant Shapps can come to the table if he wants, I am not particularly bothered.
“But if he wants to come to the table he would be welcome as long as he comes with a framework of goodwill.”
You can use our interactive tool to check if trains are running from your local station.
You can find it here.
Grant Shapps has accused RMT leader Mick Lynch of wanting to transform himself into one of the “1970s union barons”.
The Transport Secretary told LBC Radio: “I can see what’s happening here, their leader says he is nostalgic for the days of union powers and he’s determined to turn himself back into one of those 1970s union barons.”
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has said there will be meetings of the Cobra emergency committee this week to discuss the response to the rail strikes.
He told BBC Breakfast: “Yes. There are Cobra meetings this week.”
Several Labour MPs have joined RMT pickets this morning to show their support for rail workers taking strike action.
Ian Lavery, the MP for Wansbeck and former chair of the Labour Party, joined a picket in Morpeth, tweeting: “Solidarity with the @RMTunion today and all days.”
Beth Winter, the Labour MP for Cynon Valley, tweeted: “Complete solidarity with striking @RMTunion members today. The Trades Unions are the organised working class… the workers united will never be defeated.”
Tahir Ali, the MP for Birmingham Hall Green, said he would be joining pickets later on Tuesday and posted: “Solidarity to all those who are out taking action to protect jobs, ensure safety, and win better pay and conditions.”
Labour has repeatedly criticised Grant Shapps for failing to intervene in talks between rail bosses and union chiefs.
The Transport Secretary has insisted that the Government does not have a role to play in the talks because it is for the employer - Network Rail and train operating companies - and employee representatives - the unions - to resolve the dispute.
Mr Shapps told Sky News: “If I thought there was even a one in a million chance that my being in the room would help sort it out then I would be there.”
The Government will "push on" with reforms to modernise the UK's railways despite this week's wave of industrial action.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, said many of the rules which govern the railway have their roots in the 1950s and need to be updated.
He told Sky News: “We are going to have to push on with these reforms anyway. The railway is run in many ways based on rules which were put in place, for example the 1950s, and haven’t much moved on.
“They are not run in the interests of passengers, there are all sorts of very, very restrictive practices which carry on. For example time sheets with Network Rail have to be filled out in many cases manually rather than on computers.
“That kind of modernisation, the types of things that prevent modernisation in the… upkeep of the railways. Those things have to change and we are going to push on with that in any case.”
There is "nothing" that ministers can do this week to stop the rail strikes going ahead, Grant Shapps insisted this morning.
The Transport Secretary argued that he is powerless to prevent this week's industrial action. He told Sky News: “Nothing that we can do this week would change the reality for the strikes this week.
“Law changes take time. We have always hoped not to have to change the law because we have been talking to the unions for a long time over a package of reforms, about 20 different areas of reform, with Network Rail and it was always hoped we wouldn’t need to get to this point.
“But for future strikes both in this current strike but also for other strikes we are going to ensure that the law is firmly on the passenger’s side, on the consumer’s side when it’s not a rail strike.”
Grant Shapps said the Government will bring forward new laws to stop future strike action from being so disruptive.
The Transport Secretary said ministers will finally deliver on a 2019 Tory general election manifesto pledge to introduce legislation that will require there to be a minimum service level during all industrial action. However, no timetable has been set for getting the legislation onto the statute book.
Mr Shapps told Sky News: “The strikes this week are a reality. They have called these three days of strikes. What we will do in future though is make sure that we have put some additional protections in place for the travelling public. For example through minimum service levels which are something that we included in our manifesto.
“That would mean that on a day like today a certain level of service would still have to be run, and through changes to allow for transferable workers, that is a much quicker change that we can make, and that means that somebody who works for the railway companies at the moment or for Network Rail could switch to, for example, carry out another role for which they are fully qualified and trained and provide more flexibilities on our railways.”
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, has accused union bosses of taking the country "back to the bad old days" of widespread industrial action.
He told Sky News: “I hear the unions say that it is about pay. I hear they say it is about job cuts. In fact there is a pay offer on the table and the job cuts are by and large voluntary.
“So it is unnecessary, it is taking us back to the bad old days of union strikes and they walked away now from the negotiations yesterday saying that they were going to strike and calling off any chance of a resolution.”
Good morning and welcome to today's politics live blog.
The nation is waking up to what will be the biggest strike by rail workers for a generation, with approximately 80 per cent of train services expected to be cancelled.
Ministers are under pressure to explain how they will prevent the country from grinding to a halt.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, is on the morning media round for Government so let's start by looking at what he has been saying.
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