MPs sign up for demands in strike law changes

Seven of the county’s MPs are among 50 Conservatives demanding tougher laws on strikes in the face of the on-going industrial action over Southern trains.

The MPs say the strike action has highlighted the need for steps to ensure disruption caused by the stoppages is not repeated.

In an open letter, the MPs write: “It is not fair that such wide-scale disruption can be caused on so flimsy a pretext. New legislation is needed to require strike action on public infrastructure to be ‘reasonable and proportionate’ in the eyes of a High Court Judge. There should also be a requirement for a skeleton service to still run on strike days.”

“Recent strikes on critical public infrastructure have dealt a blow to the economy and caused widespread misery. For seven months now, 300,000 passengers using Southern Rail have been frequently unable to get to work due to official and unofficial strikes. People have had to quit their job as a result.”

Signatories to the letter from Kent are Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling); Helen Grant (Maidstone); Sir Roger Gale (North Thanet); Charlie Elphicke (Dover) Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet); Rehman Chishti (Gillingham) and Gareth Johnson (Dartford).

They add changes would only apply to strikes taking place on “critical public infrastructure” such as rail, underground, tram and bus services as well as applying to doctors and firemen.

Tom Tugendhat said: “If people decide to strike, which I accept is a civil right, there has to be a minimum service so people do not lose jobs which is effectively what we are seeing at the moment.”

The decision by MPs to vent their anger in public will heap pressure on the government, which is facing criticism for failing to break the deadlock.

Meanwhile, Southern has launched a recruitment drive for more drivers. Parent company GTR said it wanted to reduce its reliance on rest-day working.

Ashford MP and Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green was not among the signatories of the open letter. It is understood this was because of the convention regarding ministerial responsibility. Mr Green however failed to respond to respond to KE requests for comments on the ongoing Souther disruption.

Southern announced yesterday (Wednesday) it would be running a full service across the network from next Tuesday after Aslef suspended its strike action and lifted the drivers’ overtime ban.

Industrial action staged by RMT for Monday will still go ahead with Southern saying 70% of its trains will run.