Downing Street admits Fresh Rail Strikes Are "Extremely Disappointing" As Pressure Grows Over Pay Award

Downing Street admitted it was “extremely disappointing” that passengers face being hit by more rail strikes despite train drivers winning a pay hike of 14 per cent over three years.

Aslef’s latest industrial action against LNER has intensified criticism of the government’s decision to move to settle train drivers’ long-running pay dispute.

Critics say the fresh unrest shows that the proposed pay award has only emboldened unions and will lead to a wave of new demands and more strikes.

Ministers insist that the latest Aslef strike - which concerns working arrangements on LNER -has nothing to do with the pay dispute and defend their decision to bring to an end an economically damaging series of strikes.

Speaking to reporters, Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman called for fresh talks to “resolve this dispute as quickly as possible”.

The strikes will begin on 31 August, with drivers not working on consecutive weekends until 10 November. LNER operates on the East Coast mainline which almost stretches 400 miles across England and Scotland.

Ministers proposed a pay deal to Aslef train drivers which they claimed would end almost three years of rail disruption. The deal will raise the average salary of train drivers by £9,000 in backdated wages. The proposed agreement includes a series of pay rises of 5 per cent between 2022-23, 4.75 per cent between 2023-24, and 4.5 per cent for 2024-25.

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson said the Department of Transport had spoken and written to both Aslef and the LNER, and confirmed the dispute related to working patterns as opposed to salary.

The upcoming industrial action from the train drivers’ union concerns disagreements over working conditions, which include accusations of “bullying” behaviour