Strike against Britain

SIR – The national event for Armed Forces Day this year is being held in Scarborough on Saturday June 25. The seaside town was to have held the event in 2020, postponed to 2021, when the pandemic did its worst.

Now the RMT union has decided to call a national railway strike that day.

With no trains on June 21, 23 and 25, many people will no longer be able to attend Armed Forces Day, some of whom were doubtless intending to make a weekend or more of it.

It’s ironic that merchant seafarers who plan to attend Armed Forces Day will probably suffer considerable inconvenience owing to this maritime trade union’s selfishness.

I expect Scarborough, like many seaside towns, was hoping for a good summer, with small businesses trying to recover some of two years’ losses.

The RMT has links to the Labour Party, but doing what’s best for British people – forget it.

Lester May

London NW1

SIR – In 1968, when the Victoria Line was built, the BBC made a film about it, still available on i-player. It emphasises that drivers are not needed on these trains. Now the “drivers” announce they are not coming to work on certain days in June. This is an opportunity, 54 years on, to run the trains in the way they were designed to be run.

Philip Roe

St Albans, Hertfordshire

SIR – Typically, the Government will bring a knife to the gunfight with the RMT. That is better, I suppose, than Sir Keir Starmer would bring.

It’s time the railways were closed for a fortnight, and if that doesn’t convince the RMT to change tack, then a month. The pain must be endured.

Bob Duncan

Reading, Berkshire