Related: Mick Lynch says government is ‘doing nothing’ about £2bn cuts to railway system
Around half of Britain’s railway lines are closed with just one-fifth of services running, as the new head of TUC seeks an urgent meeting with prime minister Rishi Sunak in a bid to break the deadlock.
The latest rail strikes will disrupt services across the country, while London will also be hit by bus driver strikes. A full lists of affected services can be found below.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Mr Sunak, TUC chief Paul Nowak called for a change in government direction and said public services were in crisis after years of “underfunding and understaffing.”
“We can’t solve these problems without a fair deal for the people on the frontline,” he wrote.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, warned yesterday that industrial action on the railways will likely continue beyond May unless a reasonable offer is made to workers.
Rishi Sunak expected to comment on strikes in 2pm speech
The prime minister is expected to comment on NHS nursing strikes in his first public speech of the New Year.
In a speech about the government’s priorities for the coming year, Rishi Sunak is expected to talk about issues including the backlog of millions of patients awaiting treatment and ambulance delays.
The health service is struggling under high demand while further staff strikes loom – including by nurses and ambulance workers
Briefings of the speech revealed that Mr Sunak will also take the opportunity to warn that Britain cannot afford to meet the pay demands of striking workers and confirm his plans to bring new laws to limit industrial action.
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Lucy Thackray4 January 2023 13:27
Mick Lynch compares UK government approach to strikes to ‘oppressive regimes’
Mick Lynch has compared UK government ministers’ reaction to country-wide strikes to “oppressive regimes”.
Saying Grant Shapps wanted to “conscript agency workers to go into work” during strikes, and ministers wanting to “ban strikes by having minimum services”, the RMT Union general secretary told LBC News the approach was “unacceptable in a free society”.
“You’re talking about the conscription of labour even during a lawful dispute, and I would have to name my members that went…
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