Shapps in 11th hour plea to strikers as mass walkout looms on railways

TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps issued an eleventh-hour direct appeal to rail workers not to follow "militant" unions into a wave of strikes which he warned threatens to inflict thousands of job cuts in their industry.

- Nicholas Cecil and David Bond

The Cabinet minister stressed that the Rail, Maritime and Transport union no longer had a stranglehold over the train network due to the work revolution fast-tracked by the Covid pandemic with millions of people now able to work from home if needed.

In a speech at Siemens train facility in Hornsey in north London, Mr Shapps said: "Today I appeal directly to rail workers, who I think are less militant than their union leaders... don't risk striking your industry out of a future...don't risk striking yourselves out of a job. Don't pitch yourselves against the public. Let's fix this situation and get back to building a better railway."

The Transport Secretary laid out battle lines for an upcoming clash with the unions over the future of Britain's rail network which he stressed had to modernise to "survive".