UK rail strikes will cost tourism and leisure sectors more than £1bn, industry body says

Transport Minister Grant Shapps accuses union of 'punishing innocent people'

Britain will face its largest rail strike in more than three decades next week. EPA

Rail strikes in the UK could damage a post-coronavirus recovery and cost industries more than £1 billion ($1.2bn), the government was told.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of industry group UK Hospitality, said tourism and leisure businesses were fragile after pandemic lockdowns and now face another “big hit”.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said industrial action over pay, jobs and conditions would take place on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, although disruption is possible for the rest of the week.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has accused the RMT of “punishing millions of innocent people” by pressing ahead with the strikes.

He said the union had been urged not to go ahead with the “damaging” strikes and concentrate on negotiating a deal.

“Sadly, they have ignored these requests time and again, and we are now on the cusp of major disruption which will cause misery for people right across the country,” he said.

“By carrying out this action, the RMT is punishing millions of innocent people, instead of calmly discussing the sensible and necessary reforms we need to make in order to protect our rail network.”

Mr Shapps said the strikes risk causing “misery” to the general public.

“At the best, we think it’s going to take a hit to hospitality revenue of over half a billion pounds,” Ms Nicholls told Times Radio.

“But that presupposes that many people will travel on those days when the trains and the tubes will still be disrupted — it could be more significant than that.

“And if you look across the whole tourism, and leisure and theatre industries as a whole, you are definitely looking at an economic hit of over a billion pounds.”

Strikes on Network Rail and 13 other train operators are expected on three days next week, while London Underground workers are scheduled to walk out on Tuesday.

Ms Nicholls said tourism and hospitality businesses had already been damaged by the cost-of-living crisis and urged the government, rail networks and the RMT to reach an agreement.

“Next week’s strikes are so devastating because … we were starting to get back on our feet, starting to rebuild those cash reserves,” she said.

“We would urge all sides in this dispute to try to come together to resolve this issue so that we don’t put commuters, visitors, tourists at a disadvantage and we don’t damage our businesses.”