Mick Lynch slams ‘incompetent’ Grant Shapps for ‘pedalling baloney’

Not for the first time, Mick Lynch has hit out at transport secretary Grant Shapps amid the ongoing dispute over pay.

It comes after Lynch from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said he would “love” to let passengers just “travel for free” during strikes rather than halt travel altogether.

Now, speaking to Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty, Lynch hit out at Shapps following the MP’s appearance on the BBC show.

“Grant Shapps was on your programme yesterday demonstrating his incompetence. He knows nothing about the railway," Lynch said.

“He was claiming that there were four trains an hour to Manchester right now, when there have never been four trains to Manchester. It’s a three train an hour service. His lack of knowledge about the railway is astounding."

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Lynch went on to say: “There isn’t an offer whatsoever from any train operating company. He seems to be saying to the public that every railway worker has had this offer of eight per cent. When in fact only half of the people in this dispute have had that offer.

“It’s an eight per cent offer over three years when inflation [12 per cent]. If we were going to accept that, we’d be getting a third of inflation for the next year… We think [inflation] could be at 15 or 16 per cent next year.”

Lynch went on to say that “we’ve not had an unconditional offer of no compulsory redundancies”.

Speaking about Shapps, Lynch said he was “pedalling baloney” as well as “threats to people across the railway and across British industry.”

“He’s tried to make industrial action illegal. He’s tried to shut down any dissent against poverty that this government is imposing on working people right across the country”.