Mick Lynch has taken a swipe at GB News as he refused to U-turn on the RMT’s decision to strike over the Christmas period.
The general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), spoke with reporters after a meeting with Transport Secretary Mark Harper.
Mr Lynch said the Transport Secretary had agreed to write to him with how he sees the union’s dispute with rail operators “going forward and taking forward steps towards a resolution”.
The general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), spoke with reporters after a meeting with Transport Secretary Mark Harper.
Kirsty O'Connor
The Transport Secretary has also said he will “consider” setting up a liaison group at ministerial level so the industry and trade unions can speak with them about how a settlement can come about, Mr Lynch said.
He said their meeting was “positive” in the sense they had “got rid of the bellicose nonsense that we used to have”.
“We’re now starting to get a dialogue,” he told reporters outside the Department for Transport.
Mr Harper also reiterated Mr Lynch’s comments and said the meeting had been “productive”.
However, when asked if he would cancel the upcoming Christmas strikes, Mr Lynch said: “If we call off the strikes we’ll never get a settlement. We did that two weeks ago, we’ve changed our dates in response to public opinion when the Queen passed away, when we had the Poppy Day, we’ve done other things.
“We have not had a strike for seven weeks and nothing has happened. So anyone that’s been involved in industrial relations knows that there’s got to be leverage and pressure at the table from both sides. That will create the compromises and the resolutions that we’re all looking for.
“If I take these actions off without any outcome, my members won’t forgive me for doing that, and we know that the pressure will be off all the parties including us, because we’ve got pressure on us as well. We want to get to a settlement. I’ve given a commitment to my members, until we get a tangible outcome that they can consider, the action will remain on.”
Elsewhere, when asked a question by GB News’ Political Reporter Katherine Forster, Lynch quipped: “Is Farage here? Because if he is I’m not talking to him.”
After answering he turned to other reporters and said: “Is anyone from a normal outlet? Rather than GB News.”
Nigel Farage offered to buy Mick Lynch a pint.
Twitter: Nigel Farage
GB News’ Nigel Farage responded with a video on Twitter in which he offered to buy Mr Lynch a pint.
Nigel said: “Big shoutout to Mick Lynch. Now, listen, Mick, you were pretty derogatory about GB News and me in particular a bit earlier on.
"Want to remind you, your predecessor Bob Crow and I got on really well. Two reasons for that. One, we agreed on lots of things, disagreed on others.
“But the other was actually, he was a Democrat. Yes, he believed in having open, free, frank conversation. He also knew how many RMT members had voted Brexit and indeed voted for me, too.
“So here's my little thought. I'm very much on the side of your members getting a fair and reasonable deal. Who knows, I could even be useful to you. So here's the offer. I’ll buy you a pint, we'll talk about it. You never know. You might even convince me.”
