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‘Big stalemate’ between Government and Mayor over London Underground

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said there is a “big stalemate” between the Government and the London Mayor’s office over the funding of the Underground, and the union had been shut out of talks.

“There have been talks lots and lots of times,” he said. “There’s been a whole series of talks, but we are excluded from the talks, because the main discussion is going on between the Government and the Mayor’s office and they won’t even disclose the numbers involved, which runs into billions of pounds.

“Essentially, Mayor (Sadiq) Khan is offering our members’ terms and conditions as a hostage to get the funding of the railway, and the bus services as well, the whole of TfL pushed downwards.”

Asked whether he thinks there will be an offer, Mr Lynch said: “We would hope so. They’ve got to get us around the table so we can talk about their issues, but at the minute there’s been a big stalemate.

“That stalemate starts between the two authorities, which are the Government and the Mayor. It’s very difficult for us to know what’s going on. There’s not any meaningful discussion between us and the employer because the employer doesn’t know how much money it’s going to have. That’s not a way to run a major global city.

“We’ve got to have a settlement that allows the people of London to get a decent transport system and the workers on that system to be assured of their future.”

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