Health secretary on impact of ambulance strikes amid pay dispute

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Strikes across rail services and other important sectors look set to leave families with “no choice” but to hold a “virtual Christmas”, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said. Industrial action will take place over the festive period and into January, with the rail network being disrupted for over a month after walkouts began on December 2.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Harper claimed the strike chaos would lead to another year of Christmas plans having to be cancelled, following two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said: “This year, many families may have no choice but to alter their plans and have a virtual Christmas again.

“This isn’t due to a new public health pandemic, but because of rail strikes, planned by the RMT [National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers] union to cause misery during the festive period.”

Mr Harper added that the RMT bosses were “ideologically” committed to the strikes despite being offered a pay deal.

The RMT is planning another four days of walkouts this week from December 13-14 and 16-17.

This will be followed by another series of strikes during Christmas week from December 24-27.

More industrial action is scheduled for the New Year, with January 3, 4, 6 and 7 set to be affected.

The rail network has already been hit by four days of regional strikes, with Unite members working for East Midlands Railways walking out on December 2 and 3, as well as RMT Avanti West Coast strikes on December 11 and 12.

The Transport Secretary added that the “dire” situation was not “inevitable”, however RMT general secretary Mick Lynch claimed that a meeting between him and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was the only way out of the dispute.

Mr Harper countered that the Government had “played its part”, writing: “I want this dispute to end as soon as possible.

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“We have agreed to continue our efforts to reach a deal whilst remaining fair to the taxpayer.

“In the first few weeks of this new Government being in office, we have demonstrated that we are willing to be reasonable – to discuss matters with union leaders face to face and to try and facilitate a resolution to this dispute by enabling a new and improved pay offer to be made by the employers.”

The UK also faces weeks of strikes by various unions, including nurses and ambulance drivers as well as Border Force officials and postal workers.

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