Boris taunts Keir Starmer that Labour MPs are ‘holding hands with Scargill’

Boris Johnson twisted the knife on Keir Starmer today hammering his ‘unbelievable silence’ on rail strikes.

At a bruising PMQs, Mr Johnson accused the Labour leader of lacking the ‘gumption’ to condemn the industrial action crippling the country because unions funded his party.

He swiped that Sir Keir’s MPs had been photographed ‘out on the picket lines literally holding hands with Arthur Scargill’, adding: ‘It’s worse than under Jeremy Corbyn.’

But Sir Keir hit back that Mr Johnson needed to ‘do your job’ and settle the strikes. 

The bitter exchanges came as Sir Keir faces a major revolt after dozens of his MPs ignored his pleas by making very public shows of support.

They included at least four front benchers, while Mr Scargill – who led the miners’ strikes in the 1980s – was also out to endorse the action. 

Deputy leader Angela Rayner inflamed simmering tensions by openly backing the strikes, saying the RMT union had ‘no choice’ as it demands a pay rise of more than 7 per cent. 

But Sir Keir himself was accused of into ‘hiding’ after refusing to make any comment on the biggest industrial dispute for 30 years.

In the Commons, Mr Johnson raged that Sir Keir ‘hasn’t even got the gumption to speak out against the rail strikes’. 

‘We are making sure that we do everything we can to prevent these strikes. He knows it is up to the railway companies to negotiate, that is their job. We’ve spent £16 billion looking after the railways throughout the pandemic, that’s cost every household £600.

He added: ‘We know why he won’t condemn the strikes, we know why even now he hasn’t got the gumption to call out his MPs for going out to support the pickets. The reason his authority is on the line in this matter is that they take £10million… that’s the fee the learned gentleman opposite is receiving for the case he is failing to make.’

Sir Keir said the PM and Grant Shapps had not ‘attended a single meeting, held a conversation or lifted a finger to stop these strikes’. 

Mr Johnson said the government is trying to ‘cut the cost of transport’ by reforming railways. 

‘That’s what we’re trying to do, but he’s standing with the strikers and lifting the cost of transport for everybody, that’s the reality,’ he added. 

Sir Keir was under fire on another flank today as Labour-controlled Merseyrail was slated for handing train staff a 7.1 per cent pay deal. 

The TSSA union announced it has accepted the ‘reasonable’ offer from the operator – overseen by Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram. 

But the government immediately distanced itself from the package, stressing that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had no say. In contrast, the RMT is launching strikes across the country after rejecting offers worth around 4 per cent. 

A senior source told MailOnline it was evidence of Labour’s inability to resist eye-watering demands from unions. ‘They would just roll over wherever they are,’ the source said. 

Merseyrail employs around 1,200 people, with the TSSA representing a range of staff from guards to driver managers.

Those staff have not been striking, but services have still been crippled by the RMT action affecting Network Rail and other operators.

TSSA chief Manuel Cortes said: ‘What this clearly shows is our union, and sister unions, are in no way a block on finding the solutions needed to avoid a summer of discontent on the railways.’

Mr Rotheram declared yesterday that he was ‘standing in solidarity’ with the RMT as their strike action crippled the country. 

The agreement emerged as official figures showed the headline CPI rate of inflation hit another 40-year high of 9.1 per cent in May. 

However, ministers and the Bank of England have been begging for wage restraint to avoid creating an even worse price spiral.  

The PM has branded the strike ‘wrong and unnecessary’ and called for a return to negotiations. 

Tory defence committee chair Tobias Ellwood turned up the heat by suggesting the unions were acting as ‘Putin’s friend’. 

‘I think Russia must be enjoying this self-inflicted distraction, pleased to see that the one government in Europe that is actually standing up to Putin is completely distracted in this way,’ he told Sky News.

He added: ‘I say to the unions, please don’t be Putin’s friend. Return to the talks today so we can get the country moving again.’

The fallout from the strike was continuing today, with the RMT spreading three days of action across the week to cause maximum pain.

Less than than 20 per cent of services ran yesterday. Nine out of ten services in Scotland were axed as all trains north of Falkirk were cancelled.

Travellers were left stranded or forced to take to congested roads as only five services operated in the Central Belt.

Sir Keir’s aides said he would be making no public comment. A spokesman added: ‘Unlike the Government, our focus is firmly on the public. The Tories are in charge… the responsibility for this week’s chaos lies firmly with them.’

Ms Rayner took advantage of the leadership vacuum to make clear she backed the strikes. ‘Workers have been left with no choice,’ she said.

‘No one takes strike action lightly. I will always defend their absolute right to do so for fairness at work.’

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was photographed backing striking workers north of the border.  

Mr Sarwar wrote on Twitter: ‘This is a crisis entirely of the Government’s making. The workers don’t want strikes. The unions don’t want strikes. The public don’t want strikes. They demand better.’ 

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said he was not issuing similar orders against joining picket lines to his AMs.

Sir Keir’s office warned Labour frontbenchers on Monday that they would be disciplined if they joined picket lines outside stations.

But at least four members of his top team ignored the warning, including shadow minister Alex Sobel, Labour whip Navendu Mishra and parliamentary aides Kate Osborne and Paula Barker.

Ms Dhesi told Talk TV last night that he did not receive the edict. 

‘I did not receive any email. In fact I got my team to check, to comb through the emails,’ he said.

‘There wasn’t any official memo coming out to the likes of myself. That’s why you would have seen different people doing different things.’

Mr Dhesi said he personally had not gone to a picket line because ‘I was too busy trying to do my job’.

Liverpool MP Kim Johnson told the BBC that Sir Keir had ‘got it wrong’ on the strikes

‘We’re a party that was born out of the trade union movement,’ she said.

‘I think Keir Starmer has got it wrong.’

Simon Fletcher, a former top aide to Sir Keir, told LBC radio that the Labour leader would face a major backlash if he tried to lay down the law, including the possible loss of huge sums of union funding.

Sir Keir already appears to be in retreat, with Labour sources saying that chief whip Alan Campbell will not decide until the weekend whether to impose disciplinary action.

Mr Lynch urged RMT members to inflict more misery tomorrow, saying: ‘Now is the time to stand up and fight for every single railway worker in this dispute that we will win.’