Hear it, ditch it, sorted

three 24-hour walkouts at the eleventh hour earlier this month as hopes of a breakthrough grew and both sides entered ‘intensive talks’. But these stalled over the weekend, prompting the RMT’s announcement.

The union secured a fresh six-month mandate for strikes last week, meaning the walkouts could continue into next summer. It has so far snubbed a pay offer of 8 per cent over this year and next, with the deal worth up to 13 per cent for those on the lowest salaries.

Mr Lynch said at RMT HQ yesterday: ‘It’s been impossible to find a negotiated settlement when the dead hand of the Government is presiding over and blocking a resolution in these talks.’

But Tory MP Greg Smith, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: ‘As if the earlier strikes weren’t bad enough, this is going beyond the pale at a time when businesses need the trade in a fragile economy and when it’s still term time and children need to get school.’

Kate Nicholls of UKHospitality said the strikes would ‘ deal a hammer blow to hard-pressed hospitality businesses in city centres across the UK’.

Train drivers’ union Aslef has called a strike for Saturday, which will bring most of the network to a halt.

The Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promised new laws to tackle the rail unions by forcing them to run a minimum level of services during strikes.