Summary That’s all for today, ahead of the first day of this week’s strike for RMT staff on the rail network and on the London Underground. Tomorrow’s strike will be the biggest strike on the railways since 1989. The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said the union had “no choice” over striking and that the government was not allowing rail companies to negotiate freely. Lynch said a “wave” of industrial action was coming amid the cost of living crisis and said the Labour party should find a way to “ride that wave of resistance”. Last-minute offers by train operating companies (TOCs) had been rejected today, he said in a statement. The. transport secretary, Grant Shapps, told the House of Commons that the strike was being organised by “some of the best-paid union barons representing some of the better paid workers in this country”. Shapps added that there was no place for the government in negotiations. The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, accused Shapps of a “dereliction of duty” by not intervening. The TUC and the UK’s body representing recruiters had told the government to drop plans to lift a ban on agency staff filling in for workers who are out on strike. Away from tomorrow’s industrial action Criminal barristers have voted for strike action over legal aid funding, that will begin next week. Downing Street has confirmed it asked the Times to withdraw a story that made allegations that Boris Johnson offered his now-wife, Carrie, a job while was foreign secretary. The TSSA rail union said it would be “outraged” if the government closed all ticket offices in England. Johnson successfully underwent an operation on his sinuses. That’s all for today, thanks for following along. Here’s our story this evening on tomorrow’s strikes. The Guardian’s editorial independence has never been more important. No one sets our agenda, or edits our editor, so we can deliver high-impact, trustworthy journalism each and every day. Free from commercial or political influence, we can report fearlessly on world events and challenge those in power. And because we believe in information equality, we keep Guardian journalism open for everyone to read, regardless of their ability to pay for it. No matter how unpredictable the future feels, we will continue to provide quality reporting so we can all make decisions about our lives, health and security – based on fact, not fiction. Support the Guardian from as little as $1 – it only takes a minute. Thank you. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is still ahead in one poll on who would be the best person to be prime minister compared with Boris Johnson. His comparative ratings have dropped by 1%, according to pollster Redfield and Wilton Strategies, but still has a lead of four points over the prime minister. The “don’t know” option accounts for almost a third of respondees. The RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has just finished speaking to Marr. He said that unless the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is willing to help settle the dispute, he should “get out of the way” and give train companies what they need to come to an agreement. Lynch said that every time that a deal with train companies looks possible, they need to then refer to the Treasury and Department for Transport. “I believe that if the companies were operating under normal negotiating conditions, we would have a settlement to this dispute already.” He added: “We will talk to the train companies this week. If there is a settlement to be done, we will be a constructive partner in this. If Grant Shapps can’t help he needs to get out of the way. “The government is stopping a settlement to this dispute. They need something to cover up all the other ills and sins that they have committed.” Earlier in the interview he said that there was an “element of class tension” in the UK, where people were becoming poorer year-on-year. “There is plenty of affluence and plenty of money in this society, and people on low wages and on modest wages are becoming poorer, because their wages just aren’t keeping up with the cost of living,” Lynch said. “Railway companies are making profits right now. Their directors are being paid massive salaries. Everyone seems to be getting richer apart from the people doing the work, and that has got to be addressed.” Business minister Paul Scully is on Andrew Marr’s drivetime show on LBC, where he is being asked about the strikes. He tells Marr that there is no place for the government in the negotiations between employers and employees, and that FirstGroup, a train operator that runs significant franchises including Great Western Railway and Avanti West Coast said today it agrees. However Marr then asks Scully, who is also the minister for London, why he and his social media team are calling it Keir Starmer’s strike, despite him having no part in the dispute at all. Scully replies: “He is trying to play it both ways in terms of his response to the strike. I have seen Wes Streeting saying he would be going out on strike, they are trying to have it both ways.” The Conservative MP had earlier said a ban on striking in essential services is “worth looking at”. My colleagues Clea Skopeliti and Jedidajah Otte have been speaking to people today about their views on the strikes. One man is planning on cycling 13-miles into central Manchester tomorrow as he can’t travel by train, and in another case the head of a NHS mental health team in south London says the whole group will be affected by the action, because many of them live far away from their workplace due to the cost of rents. However, both support the strikes. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) have told the government to drop its plan to lift the ban on agency workers filling in during strikes. The two bodies issued a joint statement asking ministers to “abandon its proposal to repeal the ban on agency workers filling in for employees who are on strike”. They said the plan was unworkable and that they “opposed it in the strongest possible terms”. They added: Using agency staff to cover strikes will only prolong the conflict between employers and their staff. Strikes are industrial disputes within a single industry or firm. Government needs to step up and do the work around resolving industrial disputes rather than inserting a third party in the form of agency workers into a dispute. That does nothing to solve the underlying issues between the company and their staff. This will only prolong the dispute and inflame tensions. Negotiations should be the obvious priority – rather than potentially putting the safety of agency workers and company employees at risk The proposal is not practical. There are currently 1.3 million vacancies in the UK, a record high. REC data shows that the number of candidates available to fill roles has been falling at record pace for months. In this tight labour market, agency workers are in high demand and can pick and choose the jobs they take. Agency staff are very unlikely to choose a role that requires them to cross a picket line versus one that doesn’t. Additionally, many roles that may be on strike require technical skills or training. Training agency workers to do these jobs would be expensive and time-consuming. Only recently government ministers came out to condemn what P&O Ferries did. Surely that example cannot have been forgotten so soon? That case showed how unfair these situations can be for agency workers, as well as the negative attention they and the agencies would receive. Taxi-app Uber says it is expecting a “significant” surge in demand during the stoppage this week. It has said that users will see pricing increase, when fares rise at times of high demand when there aren’t enough available taxis. The company caps surge pricing during periods of significant disruption. A spokesperson has told PA Media: “We are expecting significant increases in demand as a result of strike action across the rail network next week. “We are informing drivers of the expected increase in demand to help ensure there are enough cars out on the road.” A reminder that it’s not just rail staff striking this week, as the latest meeting in West Yorkshire between Unite and bus company Arriva over pay has ended without a deal. Passengers have been without any services in part of the county for three weeks so far, with the union saying it will continue for “an undisclosed period of time”. The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said the rail strikes will deliver a double blow to the capital. In a statement Richard Burge, the LCCI chief executive, said: Strikes are a lose-lose situation and will hit London’s economy with a double blow. First, there is the short-term hit of fewer visitors to the city, reduced footfall, and less tourism spending. This comes at a time when businesses, particularly those in the hospitality sector, have already fought so hard to recover from the pandemic. The second hit is the damage done to London’s reputation as a global city for business. Continued transport disruption creates risks to future foreign direct investment and could deter international partners from doing business in the UK. The railways are an industry that, from top to bottom, had no job losses and no furlough throughout the pandemic, and unlike the NHS, they had little to do and low exposure to Covid. The solidarity that they were shown then, now needs to be repaid. We urge all parties involved in the dispute to re-engage and find a resolution that will end this reoccurring economic self-harm. That’s all from me for this evening. My colleague Harry Taylor is taking over now. Another Labour MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, has tweeted about his response to an inquiry from the Daily Telegraph about his decision to accept donations from the RMT. Keir Starmer has been visiting Nato Allied Maritime Command, he says.