Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, commenting on the Southern Rail strike, said:

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

“The basis for an agreement is there and both sides need to get back round the table – and that’s why it’s extremely concerning that a senior civil servant from the Department for Transport is on the record as saying that the Department wants to ‘break’ rail employees and make them ‘get the hell out of my industry’.

“The country’s biggest rail franchise is failing. Passengers are enduring the worst delays in the country, fares are up 25 per cent, and promised investment looks further away than ever, yet the Tory Government seems more interested in pursuing an ideological dust-up with rail unions than improving abysmal passenger services.

“We have a train operating company unable to make their trains run on time and a Government prioritising a battle with trade unions over fixing a failing franchise, and it is the tens of thousands of passengers having to endure miserable services who are paying the price.”