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Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said “there is a deal to be done” with the rail unions to bring planned industrial action to an end following a “constructive” meeting with RMT leader Mick Lynch.
Mr Harper said he and Mr Lynch, the boss of the sector’s biggest union, “had an open and honest conversation about the serious challenges facing the railways” amid the looming strikes and have “common ground”.
“We both want the dispute to end and we both want a thriving railway which delivers for passengers and workers alike. To achieve this though, we need to work together, across the entire industry to ensure our railway industry thrives,” the transport secretary said in a statement.
“There is a deal to be done, and I believe we will get there – I want to facilitate the RMT and the employers to reach an agreement and end the dispute for the benefit of the travelling public.”
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Speaking to broadcasters, he added: “So, I think there is a lot of shared agreement there, but we need to have the two sides – the trade unions and the employers – sit down, agree on the detail so that we can bring this dispute to an end.”
Mr Lynch agreed that the meeting was “positive”, telling reporters outside the Department for Transport: “We’re now starting to get a dialogue.”
He added that there had been a change in tone from what he called the “bellicose nonsense” from Grant Shapps, who was transport secretary under Boris Johnson from July 2019 to September of this year.
The RMT boss said Mr Harper had committed to writing to him about how he plans to take “forward steps towards a resolution”.
“We want him to set down in writing what he’s going to do about the mechanics of how a resolution will be facilitated,” Mr Lynch said.
Ahead of today’s meeting, the transport secretary told Sky News the government is “simply not in a position to pay inflation pay rises”.
Mark Harper told The Take with Sophy Ridge that he…
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