Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of losing control of the unions as rail barons announced new strikes just 48 hours after being offered a bumper pay rise.
Critics said Labour’s ‘paymasters’ were ‘running rings around’ the Prime Minister, ahead of another three months of crippling walkouts by train drivers.
The militant Aslef union said its members will take action for 22 days – every weekend from August 31 to November 10 – on the East Coast Mainline, connecting London to Edinburgh.
The audacious move came just two days after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh hailed a pay offer to end two years of disruptive strikes.
On Wednesday, she said the deal – which would see the average driver’s salary soar by 14.25 per cent to £69,000 without any concessions on reforming the system – would ‘fix things’.
Ms Haigh is now facing calls to withdraw the offer if Aslef, whose drivers have gone on strike 18 times since the summer of 2022, pressed ahead with the latest action.
It comes as Heathrow airport’s Border Force guards announced they would walk off the job at the end of the month, while GPs and other rail unions are set to push the Government for more money.
Aslef insists its grievances with bosses at operator LNER are separate from the pay dispute.
But Tory transport spokesman Helen Whately told the Mail: ‘Days after Labour handed a 15 per cent pay offer to their union pals, apparently at the expense of passengers and pensioners who are being stripped of winter fuel payments, Aslef has announced a 22-day rail strike.
‘There’s a reason Aslef donated to Labour’s election campaign.
‘Only a few weeks of being in Government and already the unions are running rings around them.
‘Strikers now know they can get whatever they want from this Labour Government. That can only mean more strikes on the way.’
Rather than condemning the latest strikes, the Government last night risked stoking more anger by appearing to justify them. Parroting the union line, a source said: ‘This dispute is about local arrangements on working patterns – not pay.’
Amid widespread anger yesterday, Ms Haigh and Sir Keir remained silent on the issue.
Former home secretary and Tory leadership contender James Cleverly said: ‘The Labour Government has been played by its union paymasters.
Offering a no-strings pay deal to militant strikers while stripping millions of pensioners of their winter fuel payments is nothing short of a national embarrassment.’
Former transport secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘The Government should pull this inflation-busting pay offer if there is a single further day of industrial action.
‘But they won’t because Labour are funded by the same unions. And it’s the public who will suffer.
‘The new Government has totally capitulated to their union baron paymasters who have greedily gobbled up a 15 per cent pay rise without offering up any working practice modernisation.’
Aslef claims the latest walkout is because of ‘bullying by management and persistent breaking of agreements by the company’.
The East Coast Mainline is Britain’s second busiest route and connects London with Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Aslef, a Labour-affiliated union which has a seat on the party’s powerful National Executive Committee, has given the party £180,000 since Sir Keir became leader.
Ms Haigh is a close ally of Aslef boss Mick Whelan and has previously pledged to work ‘hand in glove’ with him.
The Department for Transport said: ‘The Transport Secretary has called on Aslef and LNER to get around the table.’
Travellers are set for more misery as 650 border guards at Heathrow said they will strike from August 31 to September 3 – the final weekend of the school summer holiday.
Strike flashpoints in a summer of discontent
Train guards, signallers and ticket office staff
Accepted 4 per cent in the latest pay settlement, but RMT boss Mick Lynch says they want a similar deal for next year to fellow rail union Aslef, which have been offered almost 15 per cent over three years.
Family doctors
Have been offered a 7.4 per cent increase in their ‘global sum’ funding, the scheme which pays practices per head for patients on their books. But the BMA union is demanding 10.7 per cent.
Junior doctors
Have been offered a 22 per cent pay hike over two years. But members may reject it when it is put to a vote. Robert Laurenson, co-chairman of the junior doctors’ committee at the BMA union, has also suggested a new round of strikes could start again as early as next year.
Train drivers
Have been offered 14.25 per cent over three years. But Aslef union boss Mick Whelan has suggested it will be back for more pay hikes in another six to eight months.
Nurses
Have been offered 6 per cent. But even if they accept it, Royal College of Nursing boss Professor Nicola Ranger has suggested the long-term goal is to get ‘the same fair treatment’ as junior doctors, suggesting future strikes.
Teachers
Have been offered 5.5 per cent. But National Education Union chief Daniel Kebede has suggested it is just a ‘first step’ and there is ‘still some way to go to restore what teachers and school leaders have lost since 2010 and we will expect this to be addressed in future pay rounds’. It suggests future strikes could be coming if this year’s settlement is not improved on.
Civil servants, Armed Forces and police and prison officers
Considering offers of 4.5 per cent, 5 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.