The Leader podcast: London Tube strike signals winter of discontent

Plus latest on nurses’ walkout amid record NHS waiting lists
BRITAIN-TRANSPORT-STRIKE
AFP via Getty Images
Mark Blunden @_MarkBlunden10 November 2022

While the rest of the country just escaped a rail strike, Londoners again are enduring 24 hours of Tube lines either closed or part-suspended. The shutters were up at stations across the capital, with pickets of varying sizes outside, and commuters in a noticeably quieter city once more breathing in and squeezing aboard buses, or working from home if they could.

The stoppage is the latest in a series of strikes by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union in a pensions and station job cuts dispute with Transport for London.

TfL said that by Thursday afternoon, Underground passenger numbers were at just 10 per cent of normal demand.

The RMT is now also balloting for further industrial action into the winter.It comes as nurses at NHS employers across the UK, who are members of the Royal College of Nursing, voted to strike over pay and working conditions.

At the same time, record NHS waiting lists for routine hospital treatment have been revealed, with over seven million people nationally stuck in the post-Covid backlog, nearly one million of them in London.

The Leader’s joined for analysis with Evening Standard transport editor Ross Lydall and health reporter Daniel Keane.

Listen here or here:

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in