Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, commenting on the Southern GTR Guards dispute, said: 

“It is increasingly clear that the barrier to resolving the Southern GTR Guards dispute is the Tory Government.

“The truth of the matter is that the rail union’s request to meet the new Secretary of State and the new Rail Minister continues to be ignored, while GTR breaches increasingly meaningless performance targets and lobbies hard to prevent loss of the franchise. 

“Long suffering passengers on the Southern part of the franchise will not be pleased to see yet another example of Government failure to run rail services in the public interest. The suspension of strikes pending further negotiations between ScotRail and the RMT should jolt the Government into action.”