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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Graeme Wearden

RMT boss says no new offers but deal achievable as rail and road passengers face strike disruption – live

RMT National Rail Network Rail
Passengers at Kings Cross Station in London this morning, during strike action by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).
Passengers at Kings Cross Station in London this morning, during strike action by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT). Photograph: James Manning/PA

Afternoon summary

A group of workers stand on a picket line outside Hornsey train depot as rail strikes continued today.
A group of workers stand on a picket line outside Hornsey train depot as rail strikes continued today. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

A quick recap.

A deal between train companies and rail unions is “achievable”, Mick Lynch, the head of the RMT union, has said today, as transport strikes causes disruption on the railways.

Lynch told Sky News that he was optimistic that a breakthrough could be achieved, as RMT members began a 48-hour strike.

He said:

“Resolutions to disputes are about compromises. We understand what the companies want and they understand what what we need.

“So we need some compromise on some of the conditions they’re putting on the offer and we’ll need an improvement in the pay offer.

“That is achievable, in my view.”

Lynch also explained that there are “no new proposals on the table as we speak,” following yesterday’s talks convened by rail minister Huw Merriman.

But he insisted that the dispute could be resolved:

If we get a set of documentation and a pay proposal that our members want to support, it will resolve the dispute and we can take all the action away.

I hope we can do that as quickly as possible.

Just 20% of normal services were expected to run today, and tomorrow, with services operating between 7.30am and 6.30pm. Rail operators have warned passengers that the final trains many routes will leave much earlier than normal.

Motorists also faced more congestion in major cities today, according to data provider TomTom.

Some road traffic officers and control room operators at National Highways are holding the first of 12 days of industrial action today, in a dispute over pay and conditions. Today’s action involves staff in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber.

Ministers have been urged to “do the responsible thing by the country”, and resume pay negotiations with nurses unions, or see further industrial action in the health service.

But Rishi Sunak refused to bow to pressure from health leaders and some senior Conservatives to negotiate pay with nurses to prevent further strikes.

Speaking to the BBC during a visit to Belfast, the Prime Minister said:

“The Health Secretary has always been clear, the door is always open, that’s always been the case, but we want to be fair, reasonable and constructive, that’s why we accepted the recommendations of an independent pay body about what fair pay would be.”

But private sector companies continue to agree pay deals in excess of those on offer to key workers in the public sector.

Rolls-Royce, the luxury car company, has agreed a deal worth up to 17.6% next year for staff at its plant in Goodwood, West Sussex – said to be the largest single pay deal in the history of the factory.

Our Politics Liveblog has more coverage of the strikes today:

Unite: Government has five days to stop NHS strike spreading

The general secretary of the Unite union, Sharon Graham, has urged the government to convene NHS pay talks or see the strikes spread.

Graham warns that Rishi Sunak’s administration has five days to “do the responsible thing by the country”, and resume pay negotiations.

She says:

“It must not waste this weekend. Ministers need to give themselves a shake and get into serious pay talks or see this strike spread next week.

“Anyone with a passing knowledge of the NHS can see that this government has brought it to its knees. A decade of pay cuts and a chronic staffing shortage is crushing our NHS and putting patients’ lives at risk. Our NHS members feel that they are fighting to save the very NHS itself.

“Unless the government shapes up, this strike will deepen next week and the blame for this will lie firmly at ministers’ door.”

Unite’s members across three English ambulance trusts are set to walk out on 21 December over the government’s refusal to shift on its four per cent pay offer.

With RPI inflation rate hitting 14.0% in November 2022, this is a real terms pay cut of 10%, Unite points out.

But as we covered earlier, Sunak insisted today that the NHS pay offer is “appropriate and fair”, as he resisted pressure from health leaders and some Conservative MPs.

Snowfall in the Shetland Island.
Snowfall in the Shetland Island. Photograph: Caroline Ritchie/PA

Travel in Scotland has also been disrupted by heavy snow, with some schools closing as wintry conditions sweep Scotland, PA Media report.

Much of mainland Scotland is covered by a Met Office yellow warning for snow and ice, while an amber alert for snow in the central belt expired at midday on Friday.

Police Scotland has issued a travel warning for the whole of Scotland advising people to travel with caution, with snowy conditions affecting many roads.

Air passengers were also affected as the runway at Glasgow Airport was closed during the morning while snow and ice was cleared.It reopened at around 11.30am.

Many schools around the country were shut due to the weather, including some in Aberdeenshire, the Highlands and Perth and Kinross.

In Shetland, engineers have been working to reconnect thousands of homes which lost power on Monday afternoon as heavy snow brought down lines.

Traffic Scotland said on Friday morning that snow was affecting many major trunk roads and urged people to drive with care.

Gritters have been deployed on many routes to keep roads passable:

George Osborne to earn share of £26.5m payout in first year at investment banking company

George Osborne, the architect of the UK’s austerity push over a decade ago, may not need to worry about the cost of living crisis this winter.

Osborne is to collect a share of a £26.5m payout for his first year working as partner at the City advisory firm Robey Warshaw, our wealth correspondent Rupert Neate reports.

The former chancellor is one of four partners at the Mayfair based bank which announced on Friday it would being paying out a total of £26,482,914 to the four men.

Robey Warshaw did not reveal how much Osborne, who joined the firm in April last year, would collect.

Most of the money – £17.2m – will go to its co-founder Sir Simon Robey, who is known as the City’s “trillion dollar man” for the cumulative size of the mega-deals he has worked on, including advising the Cadbury board on the sale of the 197-year-old chocolate company to US rival Kraft in 2010.

Labour MP Angela Eagle is calling for a probe into “misleading” figures used by ministers when claiming that public sector pay claims are unaffordable, Huffington Post reports.

Here’s the story:

Ministers claim that public sector pay increases demanded by trade unions would cost £28 billion - or £1,000 for every UK household.

However, Dame Angela argues the figure is “inaccurate” and that the government is using “deliberately inflated figures”.

“I am concerned that government ministers are using misleading statistics publicly regarding the cost of pay rises, and believe it is critical that figures used are accurate,” she wrote.

Eagle has written to Sir Robert Chote, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, asking him to verify the figures.

Eagle has tweeted that the government should stop using ‘blatantly misleading claims’.

The £1,000 figure is based on a government estimate that meeting an 11% pay rise for all public sector staff would cost a total of £28bn, spread around 28 million UK households, as my colleague Peter Walker explained here earlier this month.

The government’s sum seems to assume the pay rise would be covered through public taxation, rather than through increased borrowing or, higher business taxes.

Also, the money would be spent in the economy, helping retailers for example, while a proportion would be clawed back through income tax.

Tracks under frost at Clapham Junction today
Tracks under frost at Clapham Junction today Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Due to various industrial action, there will be a reduced train services across the rail network until Sunday 8 January 2023 -- National Rail have a page here outlining the situation.

An overtime ban by RMT members at 14 train operators is expected to lead to disruption, with about 4,000 trains expected to be cancelled daily even after this week’s strikes are over.

RMT chief Mick Lynch told ITV News earlier today that “The strikes are about the timing,” when asked about some members of the public who question why the strikes are occurring in the run up to Christmas.

Speaking from a picket line near Euston station on Friday morning, Lynch explained that the union needs to have “leverage at the talks”.

“The companies want to move forward with their changes. They started the next phase of their implementation yesterday, Network Rail.”

A traveller boarding a train at Waterloo Station in London today
A traveller boarding a train at Waterloo Station in London today Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

London’s Waterloo Station was notably quiet today too, as these photos show:

Travellers walk through the concourse during a rail workers’ strike over pay and terms, at Waterloo Station in London, Britain December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville
British rail workers strike over pay and terms, in LondonTravellers walk through the concourse during a rail workers’ strike over pay and terms, at Waterloo Station in London, Britain December 16, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Travellers walking through the concourse at Waterloo Station today. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Updated

How train strikes are affecting Guardian readers

Guardian readers have been getting in touch to tell us about how they’ve been affected by the train strikes, my colleagues Alfie Packham and Mabel Banfield-Nwachi report.

Elizaveta Matveeva, 34, a university tutor from Nottingham is “exhausted” by the disruption to her commute to Leicester, although this existed before any industrial action, she said.

She tells us:

“The strikes are just making existing disruptions worse. I have been getting up at 5am to be sure I get to work on time, and getting back very late because of the delays. I haven’t seen my 19-month-old son on some days as he was already asleep when I got home. I definitely support the strikes. I think it’s the government’s fault that we’re in this situation.

“I was planning to go by the National Express coach today, which is more expensive, but fortunately my line manager allowed me to work from home. The previous strike days were much worse. I am having to take driving lessons now despite having been unwilling to drive because of the impact on the environment. I just don’t think that the situation with railway services will become better any time soon, and I don’t see a viable alternative.”

Sofia Piccoli, 24, an apprentice engineer who lives just outside London in Kings Langley, says she feels “frustrated” with the ongoing train strikes because she has had to miss almost half of her university lectures.

She travels to London once a week to attend lectures at London South Bank University, where she studies part-time. The train journey from Kings Langley to London Euston usually takes under 30 minutes but she said she hasn’t been able to get in due to cancellations.

She says:

“I only have one day a week where I go to uni and if I can’t go in that one day, it’s a whole week’s worth of lectures lost.

I can’t get into London any other way.”

Piccoli was told by one of her professors to get the bus into university, which she says is “only possible for people who already live in London”, adding that:

“I do support people striking but this time around it’s very hard, especially because travel is very important for people outside of London. It makes me angry but I don’t know who to be angry at.”

Tiago Oliveira, 38, a self-employed art conservator, worries about how long the disputes could go on for.

“I commute between Sevenoaks and my workshop in New Cross. There is some admin work I can do at home but three to four days in one week is too much for that, especially in the run-up to Christmas. I need to be in my workshop to generate an income.

“I support the strikes and what they are fighting for but I think some sort of service should be maintained. Because if I do not travel, I do not earn. No one compensates me for the lost days, which are not my fault. I fear this will go on for a long time. I also fear the ticket costs will rise in January.”

Traffic was heavy in major cities this morning, as some people switched to their cars because of the rail strikes.

PA Media reports that figures from location technology firm TomTom showing congestion at 8am Friday was significantly higher in London, Liverpool and Glasgow compared to a week before.

Currently, London’s congestion level is 67%, or 21% more than average at this time.

The wintery weather and industrial action hitting the UK economy this month could push the country into a technical recession.

Economists at Deutsche Bank have predicted that heavy snow and strikes will hit GDP this month. That will push growth in the fourth quarter of 2022 into contraction territory, with a 0.1% drop in GDP, they estimate.

Deutsche Bank also estimate that 1m to 1.5m working days in December will be lost as a result of strike action.

Chief UK economist Sanjay Raja told clients:

RMT (and their near 40k workers) will be striking for four days in December. The Communications Worker Union (CWU) and their 115k workforce will also be on strike for four days. Nurses will also be on strike for a couple of days.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will also send their 100k workers on strike, marking the biggest civil service walkout in a generation.

Transport, hospitality, leisure, mining & quarrying, and construction industries will probably be the main sectors hit, Raja explained, adding:

Indeed, evidence thus far already points to a modest hit to GDP.

TfL data on tube usage on Monday, 12 December, showed a near 10pt drop from the previous week. OpenTable reservations have fallen nearly 20 points to start the week. Box-office sales too tanked with weekend sales down to £4.9bn – the lowest weekend total recorded since mid-September, and around 25% lower than the week before.

Updated

Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry repeated his call for the Government to negotiate on pay with the nursing union to avert further strikes, saying “machismo and chest beating” does not work.

He told Times Radio this morning that:

“There is no do-nothing option except continued strikes. And I just think the cancellation of probably literally hundreds of thousands of non-urgent appointments yesterday has huge repercussions for an already-overstretched health service...

“That’s why I think it’s reasonable to say in this regard, it is time for pragmatism and talking between the Government and the unions. I don’t see why that is controversial.

“Machismo and sort of chest beating and ‘we’ll take the unions on’ doesn’t work. You only get these things sorted out by talking.”

As we covered earlier (see here), Berry has written a comment piece in the Daily Express, in which he says “even the most hawkish” Conservative MPs are sceptical that the current offer of between 4 and 5% will satisfy either nurses or the vast majority of the British people who are “inherently” on their side.

There is disruption on the London underground today, partly due to the rail strikes.

At the north end of the Bakerloo line, there is no service between Queen’s Park and Harrow & Wealdstone due to strike action by National Rail staff.

On the Elizabeth line, there are severe delays between Paddington and Reading and between Liverpool Street and Shenfield “due to industrial action by National Rail staff”, Transport for London say.

Technical problems are disrupting other lines. On the Piccadilly, a signal failure at Ealing Common means no service between Acton Town and Uxbridge, in West London.

And on the Circle line, there’s no service clockwise due to a signal failure at Gloucester Road.

The London Underground status page

The shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has refused to say whether a Labour government would agree to a pay rise for nurses.

Shadow Health and Social Care secretary Wes Streeting. Picture date: Sunday October 30, 2022.
Shadow Health and Social Care secretary Wes Streeting. Picture date: Sunday October 30, 2022. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

PA Media is reporting his comments from a Q&A following a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, where he has said:

I’ve been honest about the fact that if Labour were in government today, we wouldn’t be able to offer inflation plus 5%. But we would be willing to negotiate.

He added that Labour is “anxious not to make promises we can’t keep,” given it was not clear what the state of public finances or the level inflation would be in two years’ time.

I’m not going to make a commitment today about precisely where Labour would set pay.

But I do understand why the nurses feel the way they do.

And I think it is the most reasonable request in the world to say to a government ‘we’ll suspend our strike action if you’re just prepared to sit down and talk and seriously negotiate on pay.

Here are some photos from the Dover Priory Station in Kent, where RMT members are on strike:

Rail workers strike over pay, job security and working conditions in UKKENT, UNITED KINGDOM - DECEMBER 16: Rail workers continue their strike over pay, job security and working conditions outside the Dover Priory Station in Kent, United Kingdom on December 16, 2022. (Photo by Stuart Brock/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Trains are parked up at the Dover Priory Station in Kent
Trains are parked up at the Dover Priory Station in Kent Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A strike by bus drivers in London is adding to the travel disruption today.

Members of Unite employed by Abellio are striking today, and tomorrow, in an action over pay.

Routes affected by the Abellio strike action are mostly in west and south London.

Incidentally, Transport for London have a handy page here outlining which services in the capital will be affected by strikes.

Updated

Rishi Sunak refuses to bow to pressure on nurses' pay, saying offer is 'fair'

Rishi Sunak is refusing to bow to pressure from health leaders and some senior Conservatives to negotiate pay with nurses to prevent further strikes (see earlier post).

Speaking to the BBC during a visit to Belfast, the Prime Minister said:

“The Health Secretary has always been clear, the door is always open, that’s always been the case, but we want to be fair, reasonable and constructive, that’s why we accepted the recommendations of an independent pay body about what fair pay would be.”

That recommendation, for a pay rise between 4% and 5% for NHS England staff excluding doctors and dentists, was made in July. Since then, inflation has surged to double-digit levels (it was 10.7% in November).

The Prime Minister, though, insisted today that the offer given to nurses is “appropriate and fair”, PA Media add.

Updated

A passenger at Kings Cross Station in London during today’s strike action by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).
A passenger at Kings Cross Station in London during today’s strike action by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT). Photograph: James Manning/PA

Rolls Royce car workers win record pay deal worth 17.6%

A Rolls-Royce car on the production line of the Rolls-Royce Goodwood factory.
A Rolls-Royce car on the production line of the Goodwood factory. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

The Unite union have announced that around 1,200 workers at the Rolls Royce Motor Cars at Goodwood, West Sussex, have won a pay deal worth up to 17.6%.

It’s the largest single pay deal in the history of the plant, which makes luxury cars such as the Ghost, Wraith and Cullinan, Unite say.

The one-year pay deal is a 10% salary increase plus a £2,000 payment, worth between 14.8% and 17.6% for the grades represented by Unite.

It means a typical worker (on grade 3 at the plant) will see their pay increase by £3,205 plus the one-off payment of £2,000.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham calls it a “top notch pay deal” for the Rolls Royce workforce at the factory, which opened in January 2003.

Graham adds:

Rolls Royce Motor Cars are famous and iconic because of the workers’ craft and expertise.

For years the workers had been underpaid and undervalued but that’s changing. The union has won the best pay deal since the site opened.”

Updated

RMT members are holding picket lines at several stations across the UK:

RMT boss Mick Lynch said he does not “relish” being portrayed by some newspapers as the Grinch that stole Christmas.

The RMT general secretary told LBC radio that he has received a lot of support from the public:

“I don’t relish that at all. I’ve got a family like everyone else.

“And there’s a lot of pressure on trade union activists and trade union general secretaries and leaders. The media is nearly completely hostile to our movement, not just starting in the recent period, and I have to bear that.

“I don’t like being put in that caricature. But I also get a lot of support from the general public as I go about my work...

“I’ve got a job to do on behalf of my people. I try to go about that in a professional way and in a courteous way. I don’t seek hostility or even a profile, if I’m honest with you.”

Here’s Metro’s front page from November 23:

Lynch also acknowledged that RMT members who take strike action have lost pay, through “serious deductions from their wages”:

He also defends the timing of the strike action, saying the RMT is targeting Network Rail’s engineering work (the walkouts from 6pm Christmas Eve until 6am December 27, specifically targeting engineering works.).

Lynch adds that there is now a full week available for people to reach their destinations before Christmas (after the current 48-hour strike ends tomorrow).

ScotRail are running a reduced service this week, due to the RMT strike action.

They say the strike action will cause disruption to ScotRail services, as Network Rail Scotland signallers and maintenance staff, who are in safety-critical roles, will be on strike.

They have been running a skeleton service on a number of routes, from 7.30am to 6.30pm since Tuesday, until Saturday, with one or two trains per hour on those routes (there are details here).

They tell passengers:

As there will be very limited services running between 13-17 December, please only travel if necessary. If you have to travel, you should expect disruption and plan ahead.

Video: NHS nurses on strike: 'Morale has hit the floor'

Nurses who took part in this week’s strike action have explain that colleagues are exhausted and angry, amid the dispute with the government over pay and patient safety.

Here’s a video from the picket lines outside St Thomas’ hospital in Westminster:

Thameslink are warning passengers that its services will finish much earlier than usual today, due to the RMT strike action.

For example, the last train from Brighton to London Bridge leaves at 5.10pm, while the final departure from Brighton to London Victoria is 5.40pm.

Passengers looking to travel from Gatwick Airport could also face disruption – the last train to London Bridge is at 5.34pm, with the final departure to Victoria at 6.10pm.

RMT's Lynch: No new proposals... but deal is achievable

RMT leader Mick Lynch has said there are “no new proposals on the table” after talks convened by rail minister Huw Merriman on Thursday.

Speaking from the picket line at London Euston station, the union chief told Sky News:

“We had an exchange about what might be possible and some ways forward and ideas that all the parties shared, and the rail minister requested that all the parties get down to some more discussions in the next period.

“We’ll look to arrange those meetings with the employers and see if we can develop some solutions to the issues that hopefully all the parties can support.

“But there are no actual negotiations; there are some soundings-out of what might be developed.

“So we’ll look forward to getting around the table with employers and work it up and see what we can do.

“But there are no new proposals on the table as we speak.”

Lynch also said, though, he was ‘optimistic’ there could be a deal, if both sides can agree some “commonly held positions”.

If we get a set of documentation and a pay proposal that our members want to support, it will resolve the dispute and we can take all the action away.

I hope we can do that as quickly as possible.

Updated

Passengers at Kings Cross Station in London this morning.
Passengers at Kings Cross Station in London this morning. Photograph: James Manning/PA

Nurses strike will escalate unless government reopens pay talks

The UK nurses union is planning to announce more strikes in the new year unless the government agrees to reopen talks on pay.

On Thursday nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland went on strike in the Royal College of Nursing’s first national action.

RCN leader Pat Cullen warned last night that action by nurses would escalate unless ministers were prepared to get around the table and negotiate in the dispute over pay and conditions.

Ms Cullen told BBC’s Question Time:

“We started today with 46 organisations.

And why did we do that? We did that because we wanted to make sure that we manage this strike safely and effectively for every patient, the people that I’m speaking with here tonight in this room, and every other patient in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

“As time moves on - unfortunately if this Government doesn’t speak to us and doesn’t get into a room - I’m afraid that this will escalate.”

Hospital bosses also fear that nurses will start striking for longer, at more places, disrupting more NHS services from next month unless the government increases its pay offer. Here’s the story:

Several Conservative MPs have also urged the government to look again at its offer to nurses, including former party chairman Jake Berry.

Writing in the Daily Express, Berry says both sides must get round the table. He says that “even the most hawkish” Conservative MPs are sceptical that the current offer of between 4 and 5 percent is going to satisfy either nurses or the vast majority of the British people who are “inherently on the side of nurses”.

Berry adds:

Intransigence from either party puts two of our nation’s greatest assets, the NHS, and the health of its people in peril and that’s not acceptable.

I, just like every other member of the public are fed up with political games being played out on television and in Westminster, especially as anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that both sides will eventually compromise.

So do us all a favour and give us an early Christmas Present by sitting down and sorting this out.

The Express have run these calls for a pay deal for nurses on their front page today, for the second day running.

Here’s yesterday’s splash:

UK strike days calendar

You can keep track of the strikes and stoppages planned this month across the UK’s health, transport and postal networks here:

Merseyrail are running a limited train service today and tomorrow, due to the RMT strikes. The details are here.

They explain:

Whilst Merseyrail staff are not part of this industrial action, it will involve Network Rail staff who operate the signalling systems and provide maintenance support.

Merseyrail, which runs services in the Liverpool City Region, has also been hit by the cold weather gripping the UK this week. A points failure means a rail replacement bus service is in operation between New Brighton & Birkenhead North.

Otherwise, there won’t be rail replacement buses on strike days.

Road traffic officers and control room operators strike

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) who work at National Highways are holding the first of 12 days of industrial action today, in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Today’s action involves road traffic officers and control room operators in the north-west, Yorkshire, Humber and the north-east regions.

There are fears that the walkouts could cause major delays on England’s motorways and bring A-roads to a “standstill” over the festive period, with long traffic jams.

The action is likely to have an impact on signs and signals being set up to warn motorists of blockages and incidents, a reduced ability to respond and deal with collisions, and delays in re-opening carriageways and motorways, according to the PCS.

Three weeks of strike action is planned. PCS members who work for National Highways will strike:

  • in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber today and Saturday

  • in London and South East from 22-25 December

  • in the West Midlands and South West on 30 and 31 December

  • in the East Midlands and Eastern region on 6 and 7 January.

  • all members will strike together on 3 and 4 January.

Updated

London’s Paddington station would normally be bustling with commuters in the rush hour, but it’s unusually quiet this morning.

The BBC’s Marc Ashdown is there, and reported that there are only ‘a few trains’ on the departure boards.

Rail network operators are warning passengers only to travel if ‘absolutely necessary’ on strike days.

The message is:

The railway will operate limited opening hours with services starting later than normal and finishing in the late afternoon.

Some stations will not be served on strike days. Please check your first and last trains carefully, as there will be no alternative travel outside of these services.

Introduction: Passengers face more disruption as rail strikes begin

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the economy, business and the financial markets.

Passengers have been warned to expect major disruption on the railway network today as rail workers hold their second 48-hour strike this week.

Train services around Britain will be severely disrupted, as members of the RMT union begin their latest strike in the ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.

Passengers have been advised to only attempt to travel by train if necessary.

National Rail say it is “inevitable that services will be cancelled or severely disrupted”, with a limited service on the network and likely to be no trains at all on some routes.

Around 20% of normal services are expected to run between 7.30am and 6.30pm on both Friday and Saturday.

Eurostar is running a revised timetable between 13 and 17 December, due to the strike action.

Motorists in parts of England could also potentially face worsened disruption, with the first of 12 days of rolling regional strikes by members of the PCS union at National Highways also starting on Friday.

Although no roads will be closed, any major incident could result in longer delays with fewer control room staff or traffic officers available.

Here’s our latest news story on the rail strikes:

Today’s RMT strike is taking place after a meeting on Thursday failed to break the deadlock.

The RMT said:

“RMT attended talks convened by the rail minister Huw Merriman tonight (Thursday) including Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group and agreed to further discussions.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the minister requested further talks between the RMT and the employers in order to find resolutions, adding that:

“These meetings will be arranged but, in the meantime, all industrial action remains in place.”

However, members of a smaller union, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), at Network Rail have voted to accept an improved pay deal.

The TSSA said yesterday union it has already suspended strike action, after 85% of its members voted in favour of the offer, which includes a minimum 9% pay rise by January, job security to 2025, and guarantees on terms and conditions.

The offer, a two-year deal covering the missed January 2022 pay rise and 2023, was rejected last week by the RMT, though.

Another strike scheduled for today, amongst ground handling staff at Heathrow, has also been suspended while an improved pay deal is put to staff. That should avert disruption at the airport this weekend.

The agenda

  • 7am GMT: UK retail sales for November

  • 9.30am GMT: Flash PMI survey of UK services and manufacturing sectors

  • 10.30am GMT: Russia central bank sets interest rates

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