Johnson under pressure over law on train strike action
BORIS JOHNSON is under mounting pressure to bring in the rail strike reforms he promised three years ago that would have curbed the industrial actions being taken this week.
Senior Tories have told The Daily Telegraph that legislation to ensure a “minimum service” must be run during train strikes should be tabled now, despite ministers refusing to name a timeline.
The reform was promised in Mr Johnson’s December 2019 Tory election manifesto and his first Queen’s Speech, but got waylaid during the Covid pandemic and has since been sidelined.
A Government source has privately admitted to this newspaper that a law making the change may not be tabled until 2023, given the lack of priority being given to it.
Minimum service rules block by law a total walkout by unions, as is being seen this week from rail workers.
Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, and other ministers continue to support the move but have provided no detail on when legislation will be tabled.
Theresa Villiers, the Tory MP for Chipping Barnet and a former rail minister, told The Telegraph: “The RMT is trying to bully the public. Laws to protect levels of service during strike action are a reasonable response. The test will be whether Labour will support these new laws. If they don’t then it will be clearer than ever that they are on the side of strikers not passengers.”
Huw Merriman, the Tory chairman of the Transport Committee, said: “At a time when the cost of living is a challenge, we need every part of infrastructure to be delivering.
“The French, Spanish and Italians protect their railways by ensuring a third to a fifth of their railways have to operate during strikes.”
Jake Berry, the Tory chairman of the Northern Research Group, told Times Radio: “I call on all parties including the Government to get around the table because it’s going to have a huge negative impact on people’s lives.
“I actually just think it’s really cruel as the country comes out of a really horrible period, to stop people reconnecting with their relatives. I just think is a deeply cruel and selfish thing to do.”