Keir Starmer orders Labour frontbenchers NOT to join picket lines in tomorrow’s train strikes

Sir Keir Starmer today set himself up for another Labour mutiny as he again ordered his frontbenchers not to join striking workers on picket lines.

Britons are being urged to only travel if necessary tomorrow as the RMT union stage another national rail strike as they continue their demands for large pay hikes.

During last month’s first mass walkout by rail workers, Sir Keir sparked a row with Labour’s trade union backers by ordering senior MPs not to join picket lines.

But he suffered a meltdown in party discipline when a number of Labour frontbenchers defied his orders.

In his efforts to portray Labour as a government-in-waiting, Sir Keir this morning reissued an order for his shadow team not to join those on strike outside train stations.

‘A government doesn’t go on picket lines, a government tries to resolve disputes,’ he said.

But, as he looks to avert another row over his stance on rail strikes, Sir Keir risked further disputes over his U-turn on nationalising key parts of the economy and on public sector pay.

He declined to say whether he backed inflation-matching pay rises for public sector workers. 

Sir Keir blamed Britain’s Covid debts as he abandoned Labour’s vow to take energy, mail and water companies into public ownership.

He also fuelled tensions within his own party by showing a lack of enthusiasm for nationalising further parts of the rail network.

The move has seen Sir Keir junk Labour’s promises before the 2019 general election, when they were led by Jeremy Corbyn.

It has also seen Sir Keir scrap his own promise to ‘support common ownership’ that he made during his campaign to become Labour leader in 2020. 

Ahead of the 2019 general election, which saw Labour suffer a humiliating defeat as it lost vast swathes of ‘Red Wall’ seats, the party vowed to ‘bring rail, mail, water and energy into public ownership’.

At the time, the cost to taxpayers’ of mass nationalisations was estimated to be £196bn.

In his leadership campaign to replace Mr Corbyn, Sir Keir declared that ‘public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders’. 

He promised to ‘support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water’.

The Labour leader has now U-turned on that position as he pointed to the huge debts racked up during the Covid crisis.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We’ve had the pandemic which has changed the debt situation for the country quite considerably.

‘Unusually for an opposition, way before an election, we’ve said we want to be financially responsible, we’ll set out rules so everybody knows how we will fund every single thing we are saying we would do.

‘That means for day-to-day spending will be raised through day-to-day outcomes, we will only invest for future investment and we will bring down debt.’

Sir Keir has faced fury from Labour’s Left for abandoning the party’s position on nationalisation.

There have also been signs of tensions within his own shadow cabinet.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh pointedly posted on Twitter that Labour is ‘committed to public ownership of rail and putting the public back in control of our bus network’. 

Her tweet was shared by Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner.

Sir Keir said that Labour would not reverse moves towards nationalisation of the rail network due to the pandemic.

‘On rail, large parts are in public ownership and we would continue with that,’ he said.

But the Labour leader confirmed that he would steer away from promises of nationalisation for other key areas of the economy. 

‘For the other sectors we need to fix the problems… but we’ve got to recognise that after the pandemic we’re in a different situation financially to the situation that we were in before,’ Sir Keir added.

‘And we want a responsible government that says if we’re going to do something we will tell you how we’re going to pay it.

‘The single most important thing is how we grow the economy, re-energise the economy, and that can’t be reduced to a discussion about nationalisation.’

Sir Keir was also grilled about demands from public sector workers for inflation-matching pay rises during the cost-of-living crisis.

But the Labour leader refused to say if he supported huge raises.

‘That’s a question for those around the table who are doing the negotiations,’ he added.

‘Hopefully they can come to an agreement. You’ve seen in recent weeks agreements have been made.

‘The job of government is to create the framework for success in those negotiations.’

In another TV interview this morning, Sir Keir confirmed he would again tell his shadow frontbench not to go on the picket lines outside train stations during strikes.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘It’s quite open to people to express their support for working people who are struggling to pay their bills.

‘But I’m very clear that the Labour Party in opposition needs to be the Labour Party in power.

‘And a government doesn’t go on picket lines, a government tries to resolve disputes.

‘I’m so frustrated with our Government because they could step in and help solve the dispute… I think the Government just wants to feed on the division.’

Sir Keir ducked out of sacking those frontbenchers who defied his orders not to join picket lines outside train stations last month, although the group were spoken to by Labour’s chief whip Alan Campbell.