Rail union’s ‘hypocrisy’ over ticket price rises

Grayling blasts unions on pay and says nationalising railways would come at a ‘huge cost’ to the country

The country’s biggest rail union was accused of hypocrisy for calling rail fare rises “competitive”. Mick Cash, the leader of the RMT, yesterday led protests against rail fare rises, but had told members of his union last year that increases were “significant” because they would lead to bigger pay rises for rail workers. Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, criticised the union for refusing to support his move to peg fare rises to the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation.

TRANSPORT Secretary Chris Grayling has accused Britain’s biggest rail union of “utter hypocrisy” after it emerged it considered rail fare rises “competitive”.

Mick Cash, the general secretary of the RMT union, yesterday led protests against rail fare rises and condemned them as the “Great Train Robbery”.

However, The Daily Telegraph can disclose that Mr Cash told members of his union last year that increases were “significant” because they would lead to bigger pay rises for rail workers.

He also said that increases in the cost of rail travel since 2015 had been “outstripped” by rises in the cost of driving as he defended the higher measure of inflation used to calculate fares.

Mr Grayling wants to peg train fare rises to a lower rate of inflation, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), instead of the current Retail Price Index (RPI), in a bid to ease the burden on commuters. However, the Government believes it can only afford to do this if rail unions apply the same lower rate of inflation to staff pay rises.

Mr Cash vowed last summer to “resist” the use of CPI for settling pay for rail staff, adding: “Relative to fluctuations in the cost of travelling by road, the change in the cost of rail travel (though not necessarily the overall cost of travelling by train) has therefore been competitive.”

But he said yesterday: “The responsibility for the great fares rip-off doesn’t rest with front line rail workers, it rests with greedy private rail companies, and their cheerleaders in Government, who are robbing the British passenger and using that money to subsidise state rail operations in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and beyond. End that racket and there would be enough cash to hold down fares, invest in infrastructure and ensure we have enough staff, on decent pay and conditions, to deliver safe and accessible rail services for all.”

The row came as Mr Grayling rejected accusations that he had gone into hiding as the rail fare rises began to hit commuters. He was nearly 5,000 miles away in Qatar, but he sympathised with passengers and criticised Labour and the rail unions for attempting to “have their cake and eat it”.

He said: “I want us to move to a lower rate of inflation [for rail fares], but the unions are being completely hypocritical. On the one hand they are saying that fares should not go up in line with RPI, but their wages should. It is utter hypocrisy.”

He also rejected claims by Lord Adonis, a former Labour transport secretary, that the Government had used hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to bail out private rail companies with an early end to contracts. Instead, he warned that nationalision would entail a “huge cost”.

Mr Grayling could face an investigation by the National Audit Office over the decision to end the contracts. It was suggested at the weekend that he might be moved in a Cabinet reshuffle, but Downing Street insisted he was “working hard and doing a good job”.

The Transport Secretary said that he would make “no apologies” for his overseas visit, where he was attempting to secure contracts for British companies to build Qatar’s biggest airport.

‘They are saying that fares should not go up in line with RPI, but their wages should. It is utter hypocrisy’