David Cameron accused of 'misleading' Commons over Southern Railway strikes

Criticism: David Cameron attacked the "unacceptable" level of service on Southern Railway
Phil Richards
Hannah Al-Othman29 June 2016

The Prime Minister has been accused of "misleading" the Commons after he criticised unions for disrupting rail services.

Speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron attacked the "unacceptable" level of service on Southern Railway.

He named the train drivers' union Aslef as taking industrial action on Southern, but the union pointed out this was incorrect.

General secretary Mick Whelan said: "There is no industrial action by Aslef on Southern Railway.

"The Prime Minister knows this but is deliberately spreading a falsehood to help his friends who are failing passengers every day by delivering a dismal service.

"Southern are in breach of their franchise obligations but the Department for Transport is turning a blind eye to that as well.

"Because the problems on Southern are being driven by the Department for Transport - their fingerprints are all over the plans to introduce driver only trains - in a bid to put passenger safety, and the integrity of the railway, at risk in the race for greater profits by a greedy company that puts shareholders before passengers and staff."

Industrial action has been taken in recent weeks by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union.

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