‘You don’t lead by hiding’, Unite leader tells Starmer as Labor orders political leaders not to join rail pickets – live

boris johnson opened the cabinet this morning with a message that reform in the rail industry was essential. In the past, we normally only hear what the prime minister said in the cabinet when the number 10 (or other ministers) have reported it, but for the past few weeks, Johnson has been using the cabinet as a photo opportunity and invited a camera crew to record his opening spiel. These are some of the points he made this morning, from what was broadcast on Sky News.

• Johnson claimed that the government was making greater investments in railways than any previous government. The integrated rail plan alone was worth £96bn, he said. It was “truly transformative,” he said.

• But he stated that the investment would not be possible without the reform. He said:

But if we’re going to make these colossal investments, as we do and as we should, we have to reform… It can’t be right that some box offices, I think, are selling about one ticket an hour. We need to get those staff out from behind the plate glass onto the platforms so they can interact with passengers, with customers, the way they want to.

And we need union leaders to sit down with Network Rail and the rail companies and get down to business.

• He said the country had to prepare to “stay the course” because reforms were essential. They would reduce costs, he argued.

And I say this to the country as a whole, we must prepare to stay the course. Because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railroads, are in the interest of the traveling public. They will help reduce costs for rate payers across the country.

‘Stay the course’ sounded like a Thatcherite declaration that he was not going to give in to union demands at any time. But whether the government maintains an appetite for a no-compromise approach whether the disruption continues through the summer may be another question.

• Johnson said that if the modernization program did not move forward, ticket prices would rise. He told the cabinet this morning:

If we don’t do this, these big companies, this big industry, will face more financial pressure, will go out of business, and the result will be that they will have to increase the cost of tickets even more.

And he was a little more direct at this point in a quote published by No 10 overnight in the press advisory that previewed what he would say. This quoted Johnson as saying:

I want to be clear: we are not charging passengers higher fares to continue paying for labor practices that date back in some cases to the 19th century.

This line is interesting because so far the government has attacked the strike largely because it will cause severe inconvenience to travellers. But this argument links the strike and rail reform to the government’s long-term plan to help people with the cost of living.

Good morning. Rail strikes are set to become the dominant political story of the week and today, which is the first day of a national strike by RMT members, as well as a strike on the London Underground, may well be the worst disruption of the week. .

My colleague abdul gin is writing our independent blog on live train strikes, where there will be coverage of all aspects of the strikes: political interventions, but also what is happening in the transport network and the experiences of travelers.

There will inevitably be some overlap with this blog, where I will be covering the politics of the dispute, as well as other non-rail Westminister stories.

For most people, the main question generated by the strike is: ‘Will I be able to go to work?’ But for the obsessive political class what is more interesting is, ‘Who is going to be to blame?’ Boris Johnson is desperate to persuade the public that Keir Starmer is responsible. Seeking to revive popular memories of the winter of discontent in 1978, the PM has made a case based on three premises: 1) The workers will not condemn the strike; 2) the party is linked to the trade union movement (although not to the RMT, which disaffiliated from Labor almost 20 years ago); and 3) some Labor MPs have said they support the RMT strike.

But it is still quite difficult to land this argument, since the Conservative MP brand jenkinson (a loyal Johnson fan) demonstrated this morning when he posted this on Twitter.

Jenkinson was only elected in 2019, but even he must remember that Conservative or Conservative-led governments have been in power since 2010.

In truth, people usually blame the government when services go wrong, and even Johnson must realize that the ‘blame Starmer’ strategy will only get him so far. The public perception of unions is more positive than it used to be and you need to be close to retirement age these days to have a proper reminder of the winter of discontent.

But Labor is still nervous, and last night sienna rodgers in Politics Home revealed that lawmakers have been told not to join the picket lines. Starmer’s office sent a message to members of the shadow cabinet saying:

We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government has failed to engage in any negotiations.

However, we must also show leadership, and to that end, remember that leaders, including [parliamentary private secretaries] must not be on the picket lines.

Please talk to everyone on your team to remind them of this and confirm with me that you have done so.

Unsurprisingly, this has angered people on the left. Last night Sharon GrahamGeneral Secretary of the Unite union, which in the past has been the Labor Party’s biggest donor, posted this on Twitter.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30 a.m.: Boris Johnson chairs furniture.

11:30: Downing Street holds a briefing in the lobby.

11:30: Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, answers questions in the House of Commons.

After 16:00: MPs begin a debate on a Labor motion that would require the House of Commons constitutional affairs and civil service committee to appoint its own adviser on ministerial code if Boris Johnson has not replaced Lord Geidt as his own independent adviser on ministers’ interests after two months.

I try to monitor comments below the line (BTL) but it’s impossible to read all of them. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere and you’ll be more likely to find it. I try to answer questions, and if they’re of general interest, I’ll post the question and answer above the line (ATL), though I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

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