London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Rail strikes cynically targeting Eurovision, transport minister says

Rail strikes cynically targeting Eurovision, transport minister says

Transport Secretary Mark Harper has accused the RMT transport union of "cynically targeting the Eurovision song contest" by calling strikes on the day of the final.
RMT members are due to strike on 13 May after the union rejected the latest pay deal from train operators.

The RMT said the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the train operators, had "torpedoed" pay talks.

But Mr Harper said a "fair and reasonable pay offer" had been made.

In an interview on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Harper urged the RMT - the UK's largest specialist transport union - to put the pay offer to its members and let them decide.

Mr Harper said, rather than doing this, the RMT had "called strikes which are cynically targeting the Eurovision song contest".

"The reason that's so appalling is because that's not our song contest," Mr Harper said. "We're hosting it for Ukraine."

Mr Harper said the RMT should be standing "in solidarity" with Ukrainian rail workers targeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in war-torn Ukraine.

The BBC asked the RMT if it wished to comment but the union said it had nothing to add beyond its previous statements.

The RMT union said it would launch action across 14 train operators for 24 hours on Saturday 13 May - the day Liverpool hosts the Eurovision final on behalf of Ukraine.

Members will be walking out from 00:01 to 23:59 BST on 13 May.

The union's executive and the train operators had been discussing a new pay offer aimed at ending a long-running dispute.

The RDG's proposals involved one year's pay rise of 5% that was dependent on the union agreeing to go into a "dispute resolution process" and accepting the general principle of changes to working practices.

Earlier this week, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the RDG had "reneged on their original proposals and torpedoed these negotiations".

Train operators said they had been "blindsided" by the strike, and denied union claims they had changed their offer.

Steve Montgomery, chair of the RDG Group, said the union was "negotiating in bad faith, again denying their members a say on a fair pay deal, needlessly disrupting the lives of millions of our passengers, and undermining the viability of an industry critical to Britain's economy".

The RMT's decision to take industrial action followed the announcement of strikes by Aslef, a union that represents train drivers.

Aslef has strikes on 12 and 31 May, and on 3 June, the day of the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London. The strikes will run from 00:01 to 23:59 each day.

The union rejected a fresh offer from 16 train firms, including a 4% pay rise for two years in a row and changes to conditions.

Mick Whelan, Aslef's general secretary, said the offer was "risible" and "clearly not designed to be accepted as inflation is still running north of 10%".

The only people responsible for the ongoing strikes in this country "are the government and the employers", he told the BBC.

On the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Harper was asked whether the government was prepared to let rail strikes disrupt the industry until Christmas.

He did not answer the question directly, but said: "In the end, the people who work in those industries have got to make a judgement about whether they accept the pay offer."

"All that the rail unions are going to do is drive people away from it," he said. "Take the two biggest events they're trying to disrupt, Eurovision and the FA Cup Final."

Mr Harper predicted the bus and coach sector would "step up" on the days of planned rail strikes in May and June.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×