With his “unbelievable silence” over rail strikes, Boris Johnson turned the tables on Keir Starmer today.
At a tense PMQs, Mr. Johnson charged that the Labour leader lacked the “gumption” to denounce the nationwide strike since unions had given him financial support.
He said it was worse than under Jeremy Corbyn and said that Sir Keir’s MPs had been seen “out on the picket lines physically linking hands with Arthur Scargill.”
Sir Keir responded by telling Mr. Johnson to “perform your job” and end the strikes.
The acrimonious confrontations took place as Sir Keir faces a significant uprising after dozens of his MPs disregarded his requests by making very visible displays of support.
At least four members of the front bench were among them, and Mr. Scargill, who oversaw the miners’ strikes in the 1980s, came out in support of the movement.
By openly supporting the strikes and asserting that the RMT union had “no choice” given its demand for a salary increase of more than 7%, deputy leader Angela Rayner exacerbated already roiling emotions.
However, Sir Keir was accused of “hiding” after declining to speak on the greatest labor conflict in 30 years.
Sir Keir “hasn’t even got the gumption to speak out against the rail strikes,” Mr. Johnson shouted in the Commons.
“We are making sure we take every precautionary measure possible to stop these strikes.” He is aware that it is the responsibility of the railroad corporations to bargain. Throughout the pandemic, we have spent £16 billion on railway maintenance, costing each household £600.
We know why he won’t denounce the strikes, he continued, and we know why he still lacks the guts to chastise his MPs for joining the picket lines. They take £10,000,000, which is the amount the erudite gentleman across from me is receiving for the argument he is failing to make, and that is why his authority is at stake in this situation.
The PM and Grant Shapps, according to Sir Keir, “attended not a single meeting, had not a single conversation, and have not moved a finger to stop these strikes.”
According to Mr. Johnson, the government is restructuring the railroads in an effort to “reduce the cost of transportation.”
That’s what we’re attempting to accomplish, but the truth is that he’s supporting the strikers and raising transportation costs for everyone.
Today, Merseyrail, which is under the authority of the Labour party, came under fire for offering train personnel a 7.1% wage raise. Sir Keir was attacked from a different angle.
The operator’s “reasonable” offer, which was supervised by Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool’s metropolitan area, was approved, according to the TSSA union.
However, the government quickly stated that Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, had no involvement in the deal. In contrast, the RMT is starting nationwide strikes after rejecting offers worth about 4%.
It was evidence of Labour’s inability to fend off eye-watering union demands, a top source told MailOnline. The informant claimed, “They would just roll over wherever they are.”
Around 1,200 individuals work for Merseyrail, and the TSSA represents a variety of employees, from guards to driver managers.
The RMT action affecting Network Rail and other operators has hampered services even though those employees have not been on strike.
“What this clearly shows is our union, and sister unions, are in no way a block on finding the answers needed to avoid a summer of dissatisfaction on the trains,” said Manuel Cortes, the TSSA’s chief.
In light of the RMT’s crippling strike action, Mr. Rotheram said yesterday that he was “standing in solidarity” with them.
The deal was revealed as official data revealed that in May, the headline CPI rate of inflation reached a new 40-year high of 9.1%.
However, in order to prevent a worsening of the price spiral, ministers and the Bank of England have been pleading for wage restraint.
The PM has urged for a return to discussions and referred to the strike as “wrong and unnecessary.”
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Tory defense committee, stoked the fire by alleging that the unions were ‘Putin’s friend.
He said, “I think Russia must be relishing this self-inflicted distraction, glad to see that the one European government that is truly defying Putin is entirely distracted in this way.”
I urge the unions not to be Putin’s friends, he continued. Resuming the conversation today will help us move the nation forward.
The RMT spaced out three days of action across the week to cause the most suffering, and the effects of the strike are still being felt today.
Yesterday, fewer than 20% of services were in operation. All trains north of Falkirk were canceled, resulting in the cancellation of nine out of ten services throughout Scotland.
Only five services ran in the Central Belt, leaving travelers stranded or compelled to use congested highways.
According to Sir Keir’s aides, he won’t be making any public remarks. According to a spokeswoman, “our focus is firmly on the public, unlike the Government.” The Tories are in charge; they are solely to blame for the catastrophe this week.
Ms. Rayner used the leadership void to declare her support for the strikes. She said that the workers had no other option.
Strike action is never taken lightly. For the sake of workplace justice, I will always defend their unalienable right to do so.
Anas Sarwar, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, was pictured supporting striking workers in Canada.
This situation is entirely the Government’s fault, Mr. Sarwar stated on Twitter. The employees oppose strikes. Strikes are not wanted by the unions. Strikes are not wanted by the public. They ask for better.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford stated that he was not giving his AMs the same directives against joining picket lines.
On Monday, Sir Keir’s office issued a warning to Labour frontbenchers that joining picket lines outside of stations would result in disciplinary action.
However, at least four members of his top team disregarded the advice, including parliamentary assistants Kate Osborne and Paula Barker, shadow minister Alex Sobel, and Labour whip Navendu Mishra.
Last night, Ms. Dhesi said on Talk TV that he had not received the edict.
I didn’t get any emails, I said. In fact, he claimed, “I asked my team to check and go through the emails.”
There was no official memo distributed to people like myself, Because of this, you would have observed many individuals acting in various ways.
Because “I was too busy trying to do my job,” according to Mr. Dhesi, he himself had not gone to a picket line.
Sir Keir “got it wrong” about the strikes, Liverpool MP Kim Johnson told the BBC.
She declared, “We are a party that emerged from the labor movement.
“I believe Keir Starmer is mistaken,” you say.
The Labour leader would suffer a significant backlash if he tried to impose the rule, including the potential loss of significant amounts of union cash, according to Simon Fletcher, a former top assistant to Sir Keir, who spoke on LBC radio.
According to Labour insiders, chief whip Alan Campbell won’t decide whether to apply disciplinary action until the weekend, so Sir Keir already appears to be backing down.
“Now is the time to rise up and fight for every single railway worker in this dispute that we will win,” Mr. Lynch exhorted RMT members as he pushed them to cause additional suffering tomorrow.