By David Wilcock, Deputy Political Editor and Chris Matthews For Mailonline

Published: 05:13 EDT, 12 June 2022 | Updated: 08:22 EDT, 12 June 2022

A militant railway union boss vowed the 'fiercest resistance possible' to Government plans for a law change designed to prevent strikes from crippling the country.

RMT kingpin Mick Lynch lashed out after Grant Shapps suggested agency workers could be used to cross pickets and keep services running in future.   

The Government is considering legal changes, with travellers facing chaos on the railways and London Underground due to widespread industrial action.

The move - which would not be ready in time for planned June shutdowns - would involve reversing a restriction preventing employers from hiring agency workers to cover for striking staff, and would apply to all sectors, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

Such a move would ramp up the Government's growing battle with public sector unions demanding huge pay rises at a time when millions of families are facing hardship. 

RMT general secretary Mr Lynch accused the Transport Secretary of 'smearing' its members, adding: 'We already have the most restrictive anti-democratic trade union laws in Western Europe and if the government attempts to reduce our rights further, the RMT along with the rest of the trade union movement will mount the fiercest resistance possible.' 

It came as Labour remained bitterly divided over whether to support or oppose the action by a union not affiliated to it.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves attacked the agency worker plan, saying passengers would not feel safe on services driven by agency staff.

But appearing on Sky's Ridge on Sunday she refused twice to say if she agreed with shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, who last week admitted he would have voted for industrial action if he was a member of the RMT.

Asked if she would go out on strike, Ms Reeves replied that she wanted 'to be the chancellor of the exchequer' and would do 'everything within my power to avert these strikes' if she were in that role.

It is understood Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has not ruled out the option, with travellers facing chaos on the railways and London Underground due to widespread industrial action

RMT chief Mick Lynch (pictured) and Manuel Cortes Gen. Sec. of The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA), are driving the industrial action 

MailOnline can lay bare the strikes being planned to wreck the summer starting at the end of June

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves attacked the agency worker plan, saying passengers would not feel safe on services driven by agency staff.

Union members from National Rail and 13 different operators have voted to carry out strike action this month. 

Meanwhile a fellow union firebrand today attacked the law change idea. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said Mr Shapps should 'try to resolve the dispute, not pour petrol on the flames and make matters worse'.

Asked about the Government plans, Mr Serwotka told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: 'That would be an outrageous act if the Government go down that road.

'We've already got the most restrictive anti-union legislation in the whole of western Europe. It's already incredibly difficult for unions and workers to withdraw their labour. There are so many legal loopholes to fly through.

'If you think about what Grant Shapps is trying to do with that legislation, is to make industrial action ineffective, and I believe it's a basic human right to be able to withdraw your labour.

'You only do it as a last resort and any attempts to bring people in to undermine disputes will not resolve the problems.'  

The law change was promised in the Tory manifesto in 2015, which stated: 'We will ... repeal nonsensical restrictions banning employers from hiring agency staff to provide essential cover during strikes.'

Mr Shapps told the Telegraph any legal intervention would not affect 'this particular set of strikes' in June, but should the action continue, then 'further measures certainly would come in during this particular dispute, if it can't be resolved'.

'I'll be saying more about this. But we will be looking at the full suite of modernisation that's required,' he said.

'The country must not continue to be held to ransom. These strikes are incredibly premature and we will use every possible lever to ensure that the public is protected in the future in particular.

'I can't over-stress our determination to get the right outcome for the travelling public in the end on this, even if the unions insist on putting the country through considerable pain in the meantime.'

It comes after Mr Shapps told The Sunday Telegraph in May that ministers were looking at drawing up laws which would make industrial action illegal unless a certain number of staff are working.

The interview sparked anger across the trade union movement, with some officials saying it had soured the atmosphere at such a crucial moment for the railways.

In his latest interview with the paper, Mr Shapps claimed workers were being misled in some cases by 'Marxists' who are 'determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government'.

'When you look at the people who work on the railways, many of them have done a phenomenal job,' he said.

'They are being led by union barons, in some cases, very extreme, Marxists, who are determined to turn this into some sort of fight, as they see it, with a Tory Government.

'The union barons have essentially told their members, you haven't had a rise for two years, this strike is about pay. What they haven't told their members is ... the pay freeze has ended. So they've been invited to strike under false pretences.'

It comes as train drivers are to strike over pay and more rail workers are to be balloted for industrial action in growing disputes in the industry which threaten huge travel disruption in the coming weeks.

Labour descended into civil war last night over its ‘own goal’ response to impending rail strikes and a ‘lack of control’ at the heart of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Leading party moderates raged at the lack of grip in Sir Keir’s office, which was allowing frontbenchers to ‘freelance’ on key policy and risked presenting the party as pro-strikes.

One senior Shadow Minister even accused colleagues Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting of appearing to prepare for a ‘future leadership campaign’ by pandering to Left-wing members sympathetic to strikes.

One senior Shadow Minister even accused colleagues Wes Streeting of appearing to prepare for a ‘future leadership campaign’ by pandering to Left-wing members sympathetic to strikes.

The senior MP said: ‘Why are we giving the Tories this own goal? Can’t we see how badly this is going to play when the strikes happen and the Tories repeat this back?’

The row broke amid mounting pressure on Sir Keir to condemn militant rail union leaders threatening to paralyse the country with three days of strikes next week.

But criticisms that the Labour leader was failing to set out a clear position on strikes and control his frontbench have also fuelled doubts over his leadership.

That includes concerns over Sir Keir’s ability to beat a wounded Boris Johnson at the next General Election after he failed to capitalise on the massive Tory no-confidence rebellion last week. Even Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has urged her boss to ‘put some more welly’ into his performances.

Critics are furious at how Ms Nandy and Mr Streeting – seen as the frontrunners to replace Sir Keir – were allowed to ‘freelance’ on Labour’s position on the strikes.

Levelling up spokeswoman Ms Nandy said Labour was ‘on the rail workers’ side’, while health spokesman Mr Streeting declared if he was an RMT rail union member, ‘I would be voting to go on strike’.

But one frontbench colleague said last night the tone of their remarks contradicted the Labour Party’s ‘official position’ of being ‘against the strikes’. He said: ‘You can’t have first one Shadow Cabinet member and then another able to freelance on an issue as big as this.’

But he blamed ‘lack of discipline and control’ in Sir Keir’s leadership for allowing the situation in the first place.

The Shadow Minister said: ‘It speaks to an absolute lack of necessary discipline at the heart of the operation if senior members of the Shadow Cabinet feel they can go around pitching to the members for a putative future leadership election when we’ve got a General Election to win first.’

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