Rail strikes: questions asked of government over train driver pay offer after cutting Winter Fuel Payment

The deal, which will be voted on by members, would include a backdated 5 per cent increase for 2019 to 2022, 4.75 per cent for 2022 to 2024 and a further 4.5 per cent for 2024 to 2025.

This would mean the average salary of a train driver would rise from £60,000 to £69,000.

Drivers are being encouraged to accept the offer, which would end a two-year dispute, with 18 days of strike action hitting Northern, LNER and TransPennine Express.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said this “is a good deal for the taxpayer because we are preventing strikes from happening”.

He added: “There is a direct cost to the economy if the strikes continue and we need to work together in partnership with workers and trade unions and business in order to get sustainable growth back into the economy.”

Since June 2022, estimates suggest the rail industry missed out on around £850 million in revenue as a result of the strikes, creating a burden for the taxpayer, according the Department for Transport.

“A ‘no strings’ deal means this will be paid for by passengers and taxpayers,” shadow transport secretary Helen Whately said.

“Ditching working practice reforms leaves a hole in the finances that can only be filled by higher fares or higher taxes.”

Questions have also been asked whether the money should have been put towards widening the Winter Fuel Payment.

Payments of up to £300 had been made available to everyone above state pension age, to help with the energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, from this winter pensioners will only receive a payment if they are receiving pension credit.

When asked whether the government was prioritising train drivers over pensioners, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC: “It is important that we settle these disputes.

“I’m glad that it sounds like we’re going to be able to completely resolve this because the disruption that passengers experience, and also the massive hit we took to our economy, was completely unacceptable and was a symptom of the wider failure that we saw right across the public sector, right across industries, by the last Conservative government.”