Grant Shapps has come under fire for failing to meet trade union bosses ahead of the biggest rail strike in nearly three decades.
Thousands of RMT union workers have walked out today over a pay and working conditions dispute with the Network Rail, which is owned by the UK Government.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been criticised for not meeting unions which has resulted in routes being cancelled across the UK.
In Scotland, only fives routes will run today with no trains running north of the central belt.
ScotRail is not involved in the dispute but services north of the Border will still be severely disrupted as its trains rely on Network Rail staff to operate.
Sky News presenter Kay Burley took aim at Shapps for not getting round the table to speak to the unions.
She said: "Network Rail, it belongs to the government, the government sets its funding. How can you claim not to be involved and not to want to be involved and not being able to get involved when that is the exact point?
"You should be speaking to the unions, you should be getting around the table.
"You should be sorting out this mess, your country has come to a standstill and it's your responsibility."
Shapps replied: "I understand that you want us to go back to the 70s and beer and sandwiches with unions and ministers negotiate."
Burley interrupted: "Oh Mr Shapps, seriously."
Shapps said: "If you're saying that every time there is a dispute that what's required is for ministers to personally go and negotiate the resolution, then why hasn't that happened when there was a junior doctors dispute?
"Why didn't that happen when there was a firefighters dispute?
"Why didn't happen with other disputes, including for example, when the post office workers went on strike?
"The employers are the people with the mandate. The employers are the ones with the technical details to negotiate this. This is a stunt which I'm afraid you're falling for by the unions and the Labour Party."
Talks failed
Last-ditch talks failed to resolve the bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, with all sides blaming each other for the lack of progress.
Around 40,000 members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 13 train operators have walked out. Strikes are also planned for Thursday and Saturday.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said Network Rail had offered a 2% pay rise with the possibility of a further 1% later dependent on efficiency savings.
He told BBC's Newsnight that Network Rail had "escalated" the dispute during Monday's talks, saying: "They have issued me a letter saying that there are going to be redundancies starting from July 1.
"So rather than trying to come to an agreement in this dispute, they've escalated it by giving us formal notice of redundancy amongst our Network Rail members."
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