UK

Calls grow to bring energy back into public ownership, as companies report record-breaking profit

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead 

Yesterday


Reports of record-breaking profit for energy giants amid surging energy prices for households and a cost-of-living crisis, has sparked criticism and calls for energy to be brought into public ownership.

As households are warned energy bills are to hit more than £3,500 a year, Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has seen operating profits increase five-fold to £1.34bn.

Reports show that the energy giant’s profits for the six months to the end of June were substantially more than the earnings recorded in the same period in 2021 – which stood at £262m.

The same week has seen Shell report record-breaking profit. The company recorded a second quarter profit of $11.5bn, exceeding its previous record recorded just three months earlier and doubling its earnings in a single year.

Earlier this year, Shell recorded a fourteen-fold increase in quarterly profits, reigniting calls for a windfall tax to lessen the burden placed on struggling families.

According to a Reuters’ report, a rapid recovery in demand following the end of the pandemic lockdowns, and a surge in energy process, driven by the war in Ukraine, have boosted profit for energy companies after a two-year slump.

Chris O’Shea, Centrica group chief executive, has reportedly claimed the company’s profits were not due to customers’ rising energy bills.

“We are very aware of the difficult environment many customers are facing and we will continue supporting them,” said O’Shea.

However, news of record-breaking profit for energy giants amid surging energy prices for households and a cost-of-living crisis, has ignited criticism and calls for energy to be brought back into public ownership.

Gas and electricity in the UK were privatised over three decades ago, starting with British Gas in 1986 under Margaret Thatcher’s government. Households have subsequently been forced to endure a fragmented system that combines privatised transmission and distribution.

In 2016, a cross-party group of MPs called for drastic action to be taken to protect consumers after a series of price increases by gas and electricity companies and to stop the big six energy companies “ripping off” consumers.

Six years later, and households are being forced to pay excessive price rises for gas and electricity, as energy bill spending heads towards highest level since at least the 1950s.

‘It doesn’t have to be this way’

Angela Knight, former Energy UK chief, told TalkTV that there was a “big question mark over those who are making extraordinary profits from an extraordinary world situation.”

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called for the public ownership of energy companies and is proposing a reshaping of the UK’s energy system, to be more in line with Europe.

“Publicly-owned energy retail companies can deliver fairer bills for households, accelerate the rollout of household retrofits and reduce energy use,” said the TUC.

Many appealing the nationalisation of the energy system took to Twitter to share their views.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, a think-tank that promotes social, economic and environmental justice, wrote: “Energy company #Centrica made an additional £1bn profit in the last 6 months, whilst millions of people can’t afford to heat their homes.

“Our economic system is currently enabling this, but it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East, has made repeated calls to bring energy back into public ownership. In September 2021 when news that millions of households could face a second record jump in energy bills in the spring surfaced, Burgon tweeted: “Our privatised energy system has left people with rip off bills.

“And it’s undermined the transition we need to renewable energy.

“We need to bring our energy system back into public ownership so that it works for people and planet.”

Following this week’s reports of energy companies making record-breaking profit, the MP said:

“Key services like energy, water, mail and rail should be run in the interest of the public good not private profit. We can’t go on with privatised firms ripping people off while millions face a cost-of-living emergency. They should be brought into public ownership as people want.”

Reacting to the news that British Gas owner Centrica says adjusted operating profits increased five-fold to £1.34bn in the first half, driven by high energy prices benefiting its oil and gas and nuclear business, Ralph Palmer, who works on zero-emission transport policy, said: “We’re being robbed. Millions can’t make ends meet and we’re due another price hike in coming months. Bring the energy industry into public ownership, use profits to provide effective subsidies to reduce bills and meaningful investment in renewables and energy efficiency.”

We Own It, anti-privatisation campaigners, have called on the government to bring energy into public ownership.

In a letter to chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, the campaigners state how the government is allowing energy bills to rise by nearly £3,000 a year, leaving 8.5 million households unable to heat their homes. We Own It are calling for the government to make a public commitment to bring privatised monopolies of the National Grid and regional distribution into public ownership, and to set up a publicly owned energy supplier.

We Own It’s petition to bring energy into public ownership now has already gained almost 23,000 signatures.

Limitations of markets

Carwyn Jones, former first minister of Wales, speaks of how the latest cost-of-living crisis has laid bare the limitations of markets at the time of crisis.

Writing for The National, Jones notes how in the 1980s people were promised that when it came to gas, electricity and water, putting those utilities in the private sector would lead to more competition and lower prices. “Yet here we are in a situation where that model has collapsed,” he writes.

“Not long ago it was possible to go to two comparison websites and see what deal was best one for you.

“Now that world has disappeared. People are slaves to their energy contracts, and it is pretty much impossible to move to another company because there are no better deals available.

“Despite the existence of a number of energy companies, most of them are simply charging up to the cap imposed by the UK government. That cap is far too high and has led to people seeing increases of 50 per cent or more on their energy bills.

“Other countries have not taken the same route. We have now a clear case of market failure that the current government is doing nothing to address,” Jones continued.

In France, the state already owns 84% of Électricité de France (EDF), one of Europe’s biggest utilities. In February, the French government announced it was to provide €2.1 billion to state-controlled energy incumbent (EDF) to help the company tackle financial difficulties and bear the cost of the construction of new nuclear reactors.

This month, France announced it will fully nationalise EDF, in a move to give the government more control over a restructuring of the group, whilst contending with the European energy crisis.

France has also said that is has extended its energy price cap of no more than 4% to the end of 2022.

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward

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UK households facing ‘most expensive winter in history’

By E&T editorial staff
Published Friday, July 29, 2022


Experts have called for more support for households facing “the most expensive winter in history” as the Government revealed how its latest £400 energy costs support will be paid.

The £400 payment, which is part of a package announced in May this year, will come in the form of a monthly deduction from bills over six months for approximately 29 million households.

Customers will see £66 taken off their energy bills in October and November and £67 each month from December to March, the Government said. However, one energy company boss has said that households could burn through that money in just a few days.

The news marks the first detail of how the Government will pay out the £400 support for all households, which the then chancellor Rishi Sunak first announced in May. Sunak also promised extra help for the poorest households.

That support came in response to predictions that energy bills will rise to £2,800 for the average household in October. Since May, however, the forecasts have become even bleaker. Consultancy BFY believes bills could hit £3,420 per year from October, rising even further in January. January’s forecast could be nearly twice as high as the current price cap.

Richard Neudegg, director of regulation at Uswitch, called for the £400 to be increased to at least £600 and for payments to vulnerable households to rise from £650 to £950.

“The Government did the right thing by stepping in with wide-reaching support to try to help ease the blow. However, this support now looks like a severe under-estimation of what consumers need,” Neudegg said. “Households need clarity to help them plan for the most expensive winter in living memory.”

Derek Lickorish, chairman of energy company Utilita, said the worst is “potentially yet to come”. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lickorish said that special focus is needed on the poorest households. In 2020, £50 of energy would have lasted 12 days, he said. Now customers could burn through that amount in three-and-a-half days. He called for the introduction of a social tariff, which discounts bills for those worst off.

Business and energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “People across the country are understandably worried about the global rise in energy costs and the pressure this is placing on everyday bills.

“While no government can control global gas prices, we have a responsibility to step in where we can and this significant £400 discount on energy bills we’re providing will go some way to help millions of families over the colder months.”

Those with a domestic electricity meter who pay for their energy via standard credit, payment card or direct debit will receive an automatic deduction from their bills.

Traditional pre-payment meter customers will be provided with energy bill discount vouchers in the first week of each month, issued via SMS text, email or post.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said the discount is “part of our £37bn of help for households, including eight million of the most vulnerable households receiving £1,200 of direct support to help with the cost of living”.

The Government’s announcement comes after consumer champion and Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis said the Prime Minister and Conservative Party leadership contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak need to agree a package to help consumers.

Lewis decried Boris Johnson’s “zombie government”, accusing it of failing to address the crisis caused by rising energy bills. He warned that decisions on support cannot be delayed until his successor is in office, as households will already start receiving notice of increased bills before the Tory leadership contest concludes and ahead of the energy price cap rising to £3,500 or more in October.

Earlier this week, the Electricity System Operator (ESO) admitted that the UK’s electricity grid faces some “tight” periods this winter amid the ongoing pressures on energy prices.

Energy price cap will rise to £3,420, experts predict after Rishi Sunak’s U-turn over cutting VAT on bills

Katie Grant - Wednesday

The energy price cap will soar to £3,420 in October before climbing even higher to £3,850 in January, according to fresh forecasts released after Rishi Sunak pledged to cut VAT on energy bills if he wins the Conservative Party leadership contest.

Mr Sunak, who stood down as chancellor earlier this month, is competing against Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for the role that will see one of them succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister.

The would-be Tory Party leader’s promise to slash VAT to bring down households’ energy costs marks a departure from his former position – but the new forecasts indicate that bills will rise even higher than previously expected this autumn.

Here’s how much analysts believe bills could rise by and how Mr Sunak’s stance on VAT has changed.

How significant will the next energy price cap adjustment be?

The price cap – which is imposed by regulator Ofgem and limits the rates suppliers can charge households on default tariffs for typical usage – will rise to £3,420 per year in October when the next adjustment is due and then £3,850 in January, according to utilities consultancy BFY.

In April this year the price cap rose 54 per cent, to £1,971. If BFY’s predictions are accurate, the anticipated increase of £1,449 will represent a 74 per cent hike on the current rate.

A separate set of forecasts released by investment firm Cornwall Insight previously predicted bills would rise to £2,980 in October and then £3,003 in January.
What has Rishi Sunak said about cutting VAT on energy bills?

The former chancellor announced on Tuesday night that if he becomes prime minister he will temporarily scrap five per cent VAT on household gas and electricity bills, saving the average household £160 a year.

This cut would be “temporary and targeted”, lasting one year from October, and would be subject to Ofgem confirming that the price cap on bills will rise to more than £3,000 for a typical household.

Has Mr Sunak performed a U-Turn?

A Truss campaign source described the new policy as a “screeching U-turn”.

Earlier this year Mr Sunak voted against a Labour proposal to axe the 5 per cent rate of VAT from household energy bills.

In February the then-chancellor told Parliament that the Labour policy would “disproportionately benefit wealthier households” and that providers might just pocket the saving themselves.

Mr Sunak said at the time: “There would be no guarantee that suppliers would pass on the discounts to all customers, and we should be honest with ourselves: this would become a permanent Government subsidy on everyone’s bills, a permanent subsidy worth £2.5bn every year, at a time when we are trying to rebuild the public finances.”
Would energy providers be obliged to pass on the VAT saving they make to customers?

While most businesses can set their prices and do not have to reduce VAT, even if they are effectively paying less VAT themselves, energy providers would be obliged to pass on the cut, a spokesman for price comparison site USwitch said.

This is because price cap rates shown on customer bills are exclusive of VAT – suppliers normally add VAT on to bills as a separate charge.

If VAT is removed, suppliers will not be able to include this charge on bills.

Every UK household to get £400 energy payment - here's how and when it's paid

Energy bill will rise significantly again in October

By Jamie Lopez

Senior Reporter

 30 JUL 2022
Households across the country will receive £400 energy discounts (Image: SCU)

Households across Great Britain will receive £400 discounts off their energy bills through the winter as the Government attempts to tackle the cost of living crisis.

In measures announced before forecasts for October energy cap rose dramatically, the Government said its support would help people cope during the winter. Unlike the cost of living payment, it is not means tested and therefore it will be paid to every household across the country. Those who have more than one home will therefore be eligible for multiple payments.

The discounts will be spread across bills in each month from October to March, with £66 knocked off bills in October and December, and a £67 reduced from each of the following three months. The discount will be administered by energy suppliers rather than the government making a direct payment to people.

Those with a domestic electricity meter point paying for their energy via standard credit, payment card and direct debit will receive an automatic deduction to their bills, the Liverpool Echo reports. Traditional prepayment meter customers will be provided with energy bill discount vouchers in the first week of each month, issued via text message, email or post, using the customer's registered contact details.

These customers will need to take action to redeem these at their usual top-up point, such as their nearest local PayPoint or Post Office branch. Smart prepayment meter customers will see the energy bill discount credited directly to their smart prepayment meters in the first week of each month of delivery.

Suppliers will be expected to report to Government the action they are taking to ensure the support has been passed on to consumers, including notifying customers in writing they have received the £400 energy bill discount and ensuring it is clearly shown on bills or statements.

The Government says no household should be asked for bank details at any point. Ministers are urging consumers to stay alert of potential scams and report them to the authorities.

Further Government support includes a £650 one-off cost-of-living payment for around eight million households on means-tested benefits; a £300 one-off pensioner cost-of-living payment for over eight million pensioner households to be paid alongside the winter fuel payment; and a £150 one-off disability cost-of-living payment for around six million people across the UK who receive certain disability benefits.

People who are struggling with their energy bills should contact their supplier. Ofgem rules mean suppliers must offer payment plans people can afford and customers can ask for "emergency credit" if they use a prepay meter and cannot top up.

Martin Lewis warns "it gets worse" as energy bills set to hit £3,500 by October

Money Saving Expert believes the cost of living crisis and surging prices are triggering calls for a "consumer strike".


By Matthew Evans

SEO writer

28 JUL 2022

Martin Lewis warns of 'worse than feared' £3,500 energy price hike (Image: itv)


Finance expert Martin Lewis has warned that "it gets worse" after the updated price cap predictions for October were revealed to be up by 78%, meaning households could face the cost of £3,500 a year on typical bills. Earlier this month, Martin urged the government to step in after data published by energy analysts suggested Ofgem's price cap could rise to 64% by October 1.

Last night (July 27) he took to Twitter to warn his followers after receiving updated price cap predictions from Cornwall Insight who provide an independent analysis of the energy market. The new predictions suggests that the October price cap is up by a staggering 78% meaning billpayers could be paying £3,500 a year on typical bills. He also warns a further rise is 'likely up again' in January 2023.

Sharing the news on Twitter, Martin said: "NEWS: It gets worse! I've just got updated price cap predictions from @CornwallInsight

"The latest spike in year-ahead wholesale price means the OCT cap prediction is now UP 78% (so £3,500/yr on typical bills) & likely up again in Jan. Its will be desperate. Intervention needed."

READ MORE: Will people not pay their energy bills?

Money Saving Expert founder, Martin Lewis (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

He then tweeted: "Many asking "how is it a price cap if its going to rise a predicted 77% in Oct?" The main impact of the price cap is to forestall rises. If there were no cap most bills would already be over double what they are now It will also forestall price drops if and when they happen."

Earlier this week, the founder of the Money Saving Expert website warned the country was "getting close to a Poll Tax moment" as seen in the 1990s. He believes the cost of living crisis and surging prices are triggering calls for a "consumer strike".

UK

Asos, Boohoo and Asda's clothing brand George come under fire over whether they live up to their lofty claims on sustainability

The CMA began looking at fashion retailers in January

The CMA will examine whether 'green' ranges are actually sustainable

By ARCHIE MITCHELL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
30 July 2022

Fashion icon: Model Helena Christensen stars in Boohoo-owned Karen Millen's Spring Summer 2022 campaign

Asos, Boohoo and Asda's clothing brand George came under fire yesterday over whether they live up to their lofty claims on sustainability.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said vague slogans for their clothing ranges – including Asos's 'responsible edit' – could give the impression the clothes are 'more environmentally sustainable than they actually are'.

Also under the spotlight is Asda's 'George for Good' and Boohoo's 'Ready for the Future' slogans.

AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said sustainability had become a 'buzzword' among green-focused shoppers, and the probe raised questions about brands' green credentials.

Hewson said: 'That's the question the CMA is digging into, assessing if Boohoo, Asos and George's sustainable lines live up to the message they are putting out.'

The CMA began looking at fashion retailers in January and said an initial review found concerns about 'potentially misleading green claims'. It said it was focusing on Asos, Boohoo and George to 'get to the bottom of its concerns'.

CMA boss Sarah Cardell said people who want to buy green should be able to do so, confident they are not being misled. She said: 'Eco-friendly and sustainable products can play a role in tackling climate change, but only if they are genuine. Should we find these companies are using misleading eco claims, we won't hesitate to take enforcement action – through the courts if necessary.'

'This is just the start of our work in this sector and all fashion companies should take note.'

The CMA will examine whether 'green' ranges are actually sustainable and whether customers are given enough information before buying them. It could tell the companies to stop making the claims if they are found to be misleading.

Shore Capital analyst Eleonora Dani said the investigation was 'potentially defining' for the sector.

Asos shares fell 0.8 per cent, while Boohoo rose 1.5 per cent. Both said they would cooperate with the CMA.

APTMA says Pakistan's textile exports to suffer decline in July

• Trade organisation, which represents the country's largest industrial sector, says month-on-month fall to come on account of energy supply issues

BR Web Desk Updated a day ago

Pakistan's textile exports in July are expected to suffer a major dent, and may drop to $1.5 billion, stated the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), the trade organisation that represents the country's largest industrial sector.

Taking to social media, the association, while sharing tweets of Asad Naqvi, a senior research analyst at APTMA, said provisional data shows that textile exports stood at $1.16 billion for the first 25 days of July.

“Expected full-month textile exports approximately $1.5 billion,” said Naqvi. This amount would be 17% lower than $1.8 billion textile exports recorded in June.

Naqvi blamed the decline on the severe energy supply issues.

FY21-22: Textile group exports witness 25.53pc growth

The development comes just weeks after APTMA urged authorities to restore gas and RLNG supply of the export-oriented industry on an urgent basis, stressing that a loss of almost $1 billion in exports would take place, resulting in further damage to the economy.

Pakistan’s textile sector accounts for a major share of country’s exports, which are vital for the cash-strapped economy. As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the textile group exports registered an increase of 17.2% on a month-on-month basis as they reached $1.802 billion in June 2022 compared to $1.537 billion in May 2022. Textile exports witnessed 23.5% growth on a year-on-year basis as compared to $1.459 billion in June 2021.

Pakistan suffers from low foreign exchange with policymakers mostly scrambling to ensure dollar inflows. In such an environment, many experts have stressed on exports, especially in a rupee-depreciating environment.

On Friday, APTMA, in a statement, had also warned that Pakistan is on the brink of economic collapse.

“With depleting foreign currency reserves, rising inflation, the exchange rate in free-fall and irrationally high interest rates, the country is headed towards a path similar to the economic downfall of Sri Lanka,” APTMA said in a release.

The textile organisation called for political stability and consistent policy implementation, terming both crucial for economic growth and for the export sector to thrive and contribute dollar earnings to stabilise the balance of payments for a sustainable economic outlook.

APTMA also expressed concern over the exchange rate. “The exchange rate instability has significant negative relationship with sectoral exports of Pakistan such as textile. A negative indication indicates that a rise in relative price is to blame for the decline in export demand.

Shinzo Abe’s Assassin Succeeds in Twisted Plot to Expose Japan’s Deep Ties with ‘Cult’

MOONIE MADNESS

The shooting of ex-PM Shinzo Abe has blown open secret ties between Japan’s ruling party and the mass-marrying Moonies.


Jake Adelstein
Updated Jul. 31, 2022 

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty

LONG READ

NARA, Japan—The shooting of ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has had unexpected political blowback. The killer attacked Abe not for his political beliefs, but because he wanted to take revenge upon the South Korea-based Unification Church—sometimes labeled a ‘cult’—which he blamed for ruining his family and his life.

Instead of rallying behind Abe, the Japanese people have followed the killer’s wishes and turned their attention to long-standing but little discussed links between the ruling party and the Moonies.

Tetsuya Yamagami told police that he had originally planned to assassinate Hak Ja Han Moon, the head of the church, which is known for holding mass weddings and backing right-wing politicians worldwide, but then decided to target Abe.

Before shooting Abe, he wrote a letter to a freelance journalist—obtained by The Daily Beast—explaining that he murdered Abe in order to expose the deep links between Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and the Unification Church.

If that was his twisted aim, he has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. The phrase, “After all, the Unification Church and the LDP are one and the same” is now trending in Japan. The Mainichi newspaper ran an editorial on July 27, “The LDP must clean up its ties to the Unification Church.”

The paper wrote, “Why did the Japanese government allow the Unification Church to change its name?… It is only natural that the Diet and the press should try to clarify the actual situation. Above all, the LDP should investigate its long history [with the group] explain it to the public, and liquidate the relationship.”

Not just in print and on the internet but in daily conversations, the Church and the LDP ties keep coming up.

Manabu Yanagi, a retired police detective in Nikko City in Tochigi Prefecture, told The Daily Beast, “The news is shocking. The ties between an anti-social group of fraudsters and the ruling party of Japan are disturbing. It needs to be made clear what exactly those ties were.”

Shinzo Abe Was ‘Trump Before Trump’—Except He Pulled It Off
ONE PARTY MAN


While the Japanese media at first refused to print the name of the cult, they are now going all out—detailing the links between the religious group, Abe, and his party in lurid detail.

The backlash is so strong that many are now openly calling for the cancellation of the State Funeral for Abe that is planned this Autumn. “I oppose the state funeral for Shinzo Abe” was trending on Twitter for a week. A petition opposing taxpayer money being spent on a lavish national funeral for Abe has already gained 67,000 signatures. It points out his connections to the cult as one reason disqualifying him for being honored.
Meet the Unification Church

The Unification Church, which now formally calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, has a long history of problematic and “anti-social” activities.

A Korean religious leader going under the name Reverend Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church in 1954. According to Moon, Jesus sent him to save families and achieve world peace and fight godless communism. His followers were commonly referred to as “Moonies.” They became known for massive group weddings and various schemes for extorting large financial donations from their members. They were also accused of using brainwashing techniques to recruit and keep adherents.

In Japan, they tapped into ancestor worship traditions and convinced adherents to spend large sums saving their loved ones from hell by buying expensive “spiritual” objects.

They strove to change their image in the late ’80s and ’90s, setting up front companies, think tanks, and related organizations. They have also been media-savvy. Moon founded the conservative Washington Times in May of 1982, and the newspaper is still allegedly tied to the organization, even though Moon died in 2012.

“The heinous act was committed in an attempt to take his revenge on the Church.”
— Professor Koichi Nakano

The Unification Church under various names and guises has not only cultivated strong ties with Japanese politicians, especially the Liberal Democratic Party, but has also managed to forge tight connections to the Republican Party in the U.S., links intensified under President Donald Trump.

One of the sons of Reverend Moon, Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon, created a splinter group, Rod of Iron Ministries, that worships with AR-15s and virulently supports Trump. Sean Moon and congregation members were not only allegedly present at the Jan. 6 insurrection but are seemingly connected to some MAGA megastars. Steve Bannon called into the group’s Freedom Festival last October.

Writing for The Daily Beast, cult expert and former unification church member Steve Hassan explained the religion as follows: “In the Moonies, we were told that we were heavenly soldiers engaged in a great struggle to take the world back from the forces of Satan, which included godless Communism and human-centered Western democracy. Our ultimate goal was to replace these godless human-centered forms of government with a god-centered theocracy, under Moon’s leadership.”
Made In Korea, Sold In Japan

The Unification Church has been wildly successful in Japan and 70 percent or more of its revenue is said to have been derived from Japanese nationals. Billions of yen have been wired from Japan to the church over the last decade, according to an Upper House parliamentarian.

A watchdog group, the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, has been monitoring the Unification Church since the late 1980s. It supports victims of the church and cults. They claimed in a July 12 press conference that the confirmed financial suffering associated with the group up to 2021 exceeded 123.7 billion yen ($899 million). The number represents only a fraction of the whole, they say. The Network representatives also noted that between 2005 and 2010, the Japanese police handled 13 criminal cases of selling goods in connection with the solicitation of donations, involving the church, and that more than 30 Unification Church members were arrested and detained. Numerous lawsuits against the church resulted in damages being paid to victims of predatory practices.

Couples from around the world participate in a mass wedding ceremony at the CheongShim Peace World Center in Gapyeong, South Korea.
NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Unification Church of Japan has publicly stated that Yamagami’s mother was a member but insists the days of soliciting donations in problematic ways are over. The Unification Church has made a point of distancing itself from the various entities under its control in Japan by changing its name under the Abe administration and setting up a number of seemingly unrelated think-tanks and nonprofit organizations that critics call “dummy companies.”

As the Network points out, the Unification Church’s expansion has been driven in part by its ties to politicians.

The grandfather of Shinzo Abe, Nobusuke Kishi, forged sharp alliances with the group. Kishi was arrested as a war criminal in 1945, but later released and put on the CIA payroll. He and notorious political fixer and yakuza associate Yoshio Kodama created the Liberal Democratic Party which has ruled Japan almost uninterrupted since the 1950s. Kishi later became prime minister. He was instrumental in the formation of the church’s political arm, the International Federation for Victory Over Communism, in the 1960s. Kishi and Moon became so close that when Moon was jailed for tax evasion in the United States, Kishi wrote to President Ronald Reagan asking for him to be released early.

Japanese Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi,left, and Richard Nixon In Washington, Jan. 20, 1960.
Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Kishi’s son and Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe, maintained ties to the organization, and Shinzo Abe continued the practice—ignoring warnings that the group was causing huge social problems in Japan.

The National Network said they had repeatedly warned Abe to break ties with the church, pointing out that he had given credence to their “predatory and fraudulent activities.”

The ties between Abe and the group were not superficial. In 2005 and 2006, while a lawmaker, Abe sent congratulatory messages to events co-hosted by the Universal Peace Federation which has strong ties to the Unification Church.

According to materials from the National Network and public documents, in 2010 and 2012, Abe attended meetings of the Institute for Global Strategy, another allegedly church-affiliated organization. In 2011, he and other conservatives put out a one page opinion ad in the Washington Times denying Japanese war crimes. In 2013, under Abe, despite opposition within the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the organization was allowed to change its name—thus obscuring its problematic past. In 2016, Abe invited the chairman of the Japan branch of the Unification Church to the prime minister’s residence. In September of 2021, Abe sent a video message to an event organized by the Universal Peace Federation. He praised the church's leaders and its “family values.” But Abe wasn’t alone, Donald Trump, Abe’s golf buddy and ideological pal, also sent a video praising the church's leaders.

Reverend And Mrs. Sun Myung Moon Officiate The Family Federation For World Peace And Unification’s Blessing 98 Marriage Re-Dedication Ceremony And Wedding. Over 2,000 Couples Were Wedded At Madison Square Garden
Jeff Christensen/Getty Images

After Abe’s video message last September, the National Network again sent him a letter asking him to cease and desist supporting the church and its affiliated organizations. It was apparently ignored just as the 2006 letter was ignored. The gunman, however, did see the video.

Abe is not the only LDP member with friendly relations with the Unification Church. According to the evening newspaper Nikkan Gendai, the church long provided free labor and secretaries to members of the LDP, handling office work, policy, and day-to-day duties while ingratiating themselves with the party. In its July 23 edition, Gendai published a list of 35 members of Abe’s political faction with connections to the church. Other political parties have also cultivated strong ties with the church.

At the press conference on July 12, Lawyer Hiroshi Watanabe said, “To the victims of the Unification Church, it seems that the police didn’t properly investigate the group (on criminal charges of fraud and extortion) because they were well-connected to politicians. We feel the same way.”

Yoshifu Arita, a journalist and Japanese parliamentarian, said on a television broadcast aired July 18 that he was told by a senior police official, “The reason we didn’t crack down on this group [when we should have a decade ago] was the intervention of politicians.”
The Letter

In an interview published with Weekly Bunshun, the uncle of Yamagami describes in great detail how the involvement of the family with the church drove the family into poverty. Yamagami’s mother sold off the land and property her husband left her when he died, and donated a million dollars to the church. She was so involved in their activities, she was rarely home. Young Tetsuya would sometimes call, asking his uncle for food. The uncle would bring Tetsuya and his brother food and snacks, sometimes sushi. The mother donated all the money marked for his college education to the church. He joined the Self-Defense Forces to pay for school and became increasingly depressed. Yamagami took out a life insurance policy leaving his uncle and brother as the beneficiaries and tried to kill himself while still in the service.

Yamagami sent a letter days before attacking Abe, to a blog writer who had often written exposés of the Unification Church. It explains his state of mind.

I [once] wrote to you that I “want a gun so bad that a hand might as well come out of my throat to reach for one.” Since then and now, I have devoted myself to procuring a gun. My devotion resembled that of the Unification Church followers who discard all but their entire life in the name of a false God…

My fateful encounter with the Unification Church goes back about 30 years. My mother, since having entered the religion, wasted over a hundred million yen, our family’s collapse, bankruptcy... As such things went by, my teenage years were over. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this experience continued to distort the rest of my entire life.

While I did loathe Abe, he is not the primary enemy. He is no more than one sympathizer of the Unification Church, one who has great influence in the real world.

Yamagami told the Nara police that he was ready to die in his assassination attempt and that the entire purpose of the attack was to bring attention to the misdeeds of the church.

Unholy Alliances

That has certainly happened. The Japanese public and the media are taking a hard look at the relationships between the Liberal Democratic Party and fringe religions. Already bookstores are packed with books about the Unification Church and magazines are running cover stories. On television news programs, the links to Abe, the LDP, and the church are being examined.

Professor Koichi Nakano at Sophia University, an authority on Japanese politics, notes that the LDP has gotten into bed with many other extremist religious groups since the 1990s.

He notes: “About the Yamagami letter, I also think that it shows that he fully knows what he is doing. He did not kill Abe for his politics, but because he identified Abe as one of [the Unification Church’s] most powerful patrons. So the heinous act was committed in an attempt to take his revenge on the church. He targeted Abe, if anything, in spite of his politics.”

For some, the unholy alliance between the LDP and a ‘cult’ that sucks its members dry doesn’t make sense. But there are historical and practical reasons for the marriage.

Nakano explains,”In the early postwar era, it was anti-communism that brought together such religions as the Unification Church with the Japanese right-wing politicians. On the side of the new religions, the appearance of powerful conservative politicians in their events and publications provided a source of authority and credibility, and with deeper ties, even access to favorable government dispensations. The LDP politicians, in turn, gained not only organized votes but also campaign staff and secretaries, which were particularly appreciated by faction bosses who were looking to increase their inexperienced and under-resourced underlings fast.”

Abe’s regime was very close to the religious cult Nippon Kaigi.

It has a long history. In 1995 a variety of ultraconservative religions, including the Association of Shinto Shrines, which has always longed to reclaim its special status in prewar State Shintoism, formed the notorious Nippon Kaigi together with right-wing business and media leaders. It promoted reactionary nationalism that espoused reverence for the emperor, changing the constitution, remilitarization, historical revisionism, and traditional gender roles and family values. The world view of the Christianity-based Unification Church and Nippon Kaigi are not far apart.

For many years, the increasingly well-known alliance between the LDP and Nippon Kaigi, as well as its hidden alliance with the Unification Church, have served it well, but the assassination of Abe has had unexpected blowback. The echoes of those two gunshots will be heard in Japan for many years to come. For current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (LDP) the growing voices of dissent and calls for an investigation into ties between his party and the Unification Church—as well as other extremist religious groups—are a present-day headache.

Last week, the journalist and television announcer Masaki Kusakabe delivered a harsh message for Japan’s politicians toward the end of a special feature examining the history of the Unification Church.

Speaking with a video image of Abe addressing a Unification Church-related gathering behind him, he said: “The Unification Church is a money-sucking group that can’t stand without donations from Japan. It is ill-advised for a politician to consort with them. Even more, they should bear in mind that sending messages and greetings may endorse the ideals and activities of the organization.”

Much of Japan heard that sermon and said, “Amen.”

Lufthansa pilots vote for industrial action over pay

The Lufthansa logo is pictured at Frankfurt Airport in Frankfurt,

 Germany, September 21, 2020. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

Strikes and staff shortages have already hit sector

BERLIN, July 31 (Reuters) - Pilots at German flagship carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) voted on Sunday by a margin of 97.6% in favour of industrial action, threatening further disruption during the busy summer travel season.

Strikes and staff shortages have already forced airlines including Lufthansa to cancel thousands of flights and caused hours-long queues at major airports, frustrating holidaymakers keen to travel after COVID-19 lockdowns. read more

The vote does not necessarily mean a strike will be held, but it was a signal to the employer that constructive steps needed to be taken, pilot's union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) board member Marcel Groels said.

"We are showing we are ready to talk," he added.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa said they respected the results of the vote and hoped for a constructive solution at the negotiating table.

Pilots' union VC is demanding a 5.5% pay rise this year for its pilots and automatic inflation compensation thereafter.

It also wants a uniform pay structure for all staff at the Lufthansa group's airlines, which include flagship carrier Lufthansa as well as budget unit Eurowings.

Lufthansa has already been rocked by strike action by its ground staff on Wednesday, which forced the carrier to cancel more than 1,000 flights. read more

Separately, pilots at Lufthansa's Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) unit rejected by an 80% margin a contract proposal, their Aeropers labour union said on Sunday, adding that it aimed to resume negotiations with SWISS management as soon as possible.

"If management continues not to recognise the signs of the times and does not immediately offer adequate solutions, then the pilots must show the management even more clearly how dissatisfied they are," it said without elaborating.

The current contract expired in April after management rejected a tentative deal from initial talks, Aeropers said.

UK
Empty Words Are not Enough – It’s Time Nurses Got a Pay Rise

By George Walker

TRIBUNE

Nurses were clapped and called 'heroes' during Covid, only to be slapped with a real-terms pay cut by the government. Now they are fighting back – and many are prepared to take to the picket lines.

In the context of inflation, a decade of austerity-inflicted pay stagnation, and a nursing sector on the brink, the NHS pay offer is seen by many as a bad joke. (Stígur Már Karlsson / Heimsmyndir / Getty Images)

Last Tuesday the government ended its consultation with independent review bodies over NHS staff pay, accepting in full its range of recommendations for workers across the sector. The increases were meagre, representing a real terms pay cut for workers, with the highest of 9.4 percent for the lowest paid porters and healthcare assistants still below a runaway inflationary spiral that could reach twelve percent by the autumn.

Higher paid staff such as dentists and doctors will receive 4.5 percent, while nurses’ average basic pay is set to go up by £1,400, equal to an uplift of four percent, or 5.5 for the newly qualified. In a context not only of inflation, but of more than a decade of austerity-inflicted pay stagnation and a nursing sector in which labour shortages and burnout are leaving services on the brink, this offer is being seen by many as a bad joke.

As in other sectors, trade unions are taking the fight to the government. Back in March, as inflation started to bite, the RCN, Unison, and eleven other unions representing healthcare workers co-ordinated a response to stagnating pay to formulate a collective demand: a joint statement to the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) called for an ‘inflation-busting’ pay rise that absorbs the effects of higher pension contributions, and a comprehensive retention package to ‘help tackle the workforce crises blazing across the service’.

The RCN then called for a pay rise of five percent above inflation specifically, with Chief Executive and General Secretary Pat Cullen stating that summer must bring ‘a pay award that turns the tide on the years of unfilled nursing jobs and experienced professionals struggling to make ends meet.’ The RCN held an emergency meeting of its council in July and voted to ballot members in England on industrial action. Unison is also moving toward consulting NHS members, recommending they ‘oppose this NHS pay award with industrial action’.

Emily*, a staff nurse, told Tribune that levels of pay have been unacceptable across the sector for years, and that ward-specific contexts often cause underpayment. ‘If you take into account the fact that I leave most shifts late, and I often don’t get a full hour’s break, then my hourly rate will actually be a lot worse than it already is,’ she said. Another staff nurse, Violet*, also argued that pay fails to reflect the stress and pressure nurses feel. ‘The government don’t understand what we do on a daily basis; if one of them were to come and see what a nurse does in a day, I think they’d be shocked. We’re the first on the scene in an emergency, and we have huge responsibility on us from a very early point in our career—in our early twenties we’re asked to take charge of a ward of ten or twenty sick children.’

The government has justified the pay cuts with economic logic designed to legitimise lumping the blame for inflation onto workers. New Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay argued that ‘Very high inflation-driven settlements would have a worse impact on pay packets in the long run,’ in a statement that also said that the government was taking care ‘not to drive even higher prices in the future’ through pay rises. Notwithstanding the moral case for higher pay in a depleted sector whose wages are growing at a fraction of that of its private counterpart, the metrics by which decisions are being justified simply don’t hold up to economic scrutiny.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch made the alternative socioeconomic case in a recent interview with LBC, arguing against the idea that higher wage rises would cause a ‘wage-price spiral’ and instead pointing out that low wages are chasing spiralling profits, rents, and costs. When disparities in wealth and capital ownership are accelerating, when we have more billionaires than the country’s ever had, and when big gas and oil companies are raking in record profits, workers and their unions simply aren’t buying government lines.

Unlike the unions, however, the Labour Party finds itself tied in political knots over industrial action in the NHS and elsewhere, with Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting repeatedly cowing to right-wing arguments on staffing, pay, and waiting lists. Speaking to the Institute of Government think tank back in June, Streeting backed sending NHS patients to private health providers as a short-term measure to ease the six-million person long waiting list for treatment. Despite the spiralling crises in the NHS caused by persistent underfunding and a government desperate to force the population into private alternatives, Streeting has doubled down on his position, arguing in an LBC phone-in more recently that he ‘stands for’ a publicly funded NHS, but that as health secretary he would use NHS budgets to pay for patients to have private care. In discussions on pay, Streeting has been conspicuous in his absence.

Streeting’s position is naïve in its assumption that private provision can ever be used as a short-term stopgap to stave off waiting lists. A report by the IPPR think tank earlier this year showed that the expansion of private interests in the NHS is creating a ‘two-tier’ health system divided between those who can afford to pay and those who can’t, with expenditure on private healthcare quadrupling since 1980. In such a system, entrenched market players become difficult to push out, unwilling as they are to give up their market share. Recent history tells us that Labour can and should tell a different story about the NHS and its future—specifically the commitment in the 2019 manifesto to year-on-year above-inflation pay rises for NHS workers.

Today, both parties fail to challenge the contempt with which nurses have been treated. As a result, the workers I spoke to will be voting for a full strike in the upcoming ballot. ‘We deserve to be listened to and paid properly for our work,’ says Emily. ‘Everyone claims to love nurses, but nobody seems to care about our working conditions or staffing levels. The better staffed a ward is, the better outcomes for all our patients, and better pay will keep nurses in the profession.’

However, turnout needs to increase dramatically from the twenty-three percent who voted in last November’s indicative RCN ballot on industrial action up to at least the fifty percent threshold for the ballot to succeed. Violet, for one, says that since last year’s result her feelings about action have shifted. ‘At the last ballot, I voted for action short of a strike,’ she explains. ‘However, I’ve realised that we are not being taken seriously and we need to make more of a stand if we want to see results and be respected as skilled professionals, and in the next ballot I will be voting for a full strike. Saying that we will just take our full breaks or not do overtime isn’t enough.’

These changes represent the beginning of a process that will inevitably see hardworking nurses pitted against antagonistic elements in the government, the opposition, and the billionaire press. Monday’s depressing debate between prospective prime ministers Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss exemplified the hostility key workers face, with both unhesitatingly committed to an outright ‘ban’ on strikes in essential public services if elected.

But hope is a powerful and resonant thing, and the changing atmosphere around the cost of living crisis more broadly makes this feel like the first time in an age of Conservative hegemony in which nurses in a deliberately crippled NHS are having their interests properly championed, alongside those of other workers. The pandemic and its aftermath has proved how far the government assumes it can take key workers—both their labour and their lives—for granted. Now, those workers seem increasingly ready to fight for something better.

*Names have been changed to protect interviewees.

About the Author
George Walker is a freelance journalist who writes on politics, culture, and philosophy.

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UK

The grim reality facing junior doctors

Lucy Dunn
30 July 2022, 12:15am

The NHS is facing the biggest crisis in its history. GP surgeries are breaking under pressure, waiting lists could top nine million by March 2024, and there’s a huge shortfall of staff. Many medics are opting to simply throw in the towel. Having recently qualified as a doctor, I can't say I'm surprised.

For junior doctors, stress, burnout and bullying are quick to take a toll: seven per cent of medics leave within the first three years. This bucks the expected trend: that people are at their most vitalised nearer the start of their careers. For medicine, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Clinical placements reveal harsh realities early on, acclimatising trainees to the most appalling parts of the job, even before they have the chance to fully understand what it's like to be a doctor. This week, the health service committee cited bullying, sexism and harassment as reasons for doctors leaving medicine early. It drudged up a multitude of memories from my own experience training to be a doctor, so I can’t say the findings are especially shocking.

On my first day of hospital placement, fresh-faced and bright-eyed, I received a jarring introductory talk as my foundation year doctor told me matter-of-factly about how she already knew of three suicides attempts by colleagues across the UK. ‘That’s awful,’ I agreed. ‘Why? What causes it…?’ ‘The job,’ she said.

I’ve seen senior registrars bully their juniors, exercising the power they feel they ought to have over those who cannot risk complaining

I’ve seen medics humiliated in front of their colleagues by senior consultants, as we desperately averted our eyes in embarrassment while anxious to avoid becoming the next prey. I’ve seen nurses scream at doctors in front of patients, after they have received a snide verbal pummelling. Once, a shouting match disrupted a ward round for so long one elderly patient shuffled off to get a shower. He returned, freshly dried, before the argument had subsided.

I’ve seen senior registrars bully their juniors, exercising the power they feel they ought to have over those who cannot risk complaining. On one ward round, I witnessed a surgeon repeatedly verbally abuse a junior doctor; the insults became progressively more personal the further round the ward we walked. His junior was getting more embarrassed, and quite clearly more upset. At one point, he mumbled his excuses (something about leaving his notebook in the previous six-bed bay) and left quickly, covering his face as he went. He was my boss, but within the space of 40 minutes, he had been completely torn to shreds in front of me.

Everyone’s been humiliated at work, but I saw it happen continuously, day in, day out. Sometimes I was on the receiving end, but as students we changed wards so frequently that it rarely cut too deep. I came to better understand that junior doctor’s earlier cantankerousness, his pale face pulled taught, stressfully multitasking, flicking his head dismissively when us students offered our help. ‘See one, do one, teach one,’ is the educational mantra of medicine. No wonder the bullying becomes endemic.

I spent years seeing either myself or my peers being berated at patient bedsides, often by registrars pushed to breaking point, or consultants simply enjoying having finally reached the top of the food chain. Sexism has not been eradicated, no matter how many more female doctors there are now. My experience of it was often at the hands of women, whether doctors or nurses; again, perhaps another trickle-down effect of a culture that was even worse years before these staff rose the ranks. Colleagues of mine have complained of racism and the poor handling of related complaints by hospitals and universities, both unwilling to dive too deep into the murkiness.

A junior doctor once whispered to me and a group of my fellow medics as we walked along: ‘What do you think of the consultants here?’ I shrugged, not wanting to give anything away. ‘They’re too intense,’ I remember another doctor, still whispering, telling me. ‘They’re always on our backs. They’re always watching.’ There was a Big Brother joke in there somewhere, but she wasn’t laughing.

In medicine, as with other careers, of course you get the odd bad apple. But most doctors and nurses are good people who go into the profession to care for others, to make their patients better. So why is the bullying culture endemic? The answer lies in the pressures of the job. The emotional toll of having another’s life in your hands requires an incredible level of mental resilience in itself. People can only take so much.

Medical staff work in an environment that consistently demands more and more of you for less and less. Staff are increasingly stretched: one of my friends is due to start work in a hospital that has nine fewer first year junior doctors than the year before; another has been the sole doctor, in her first year, responsible for three entire wards when on night shift. It’s terrifying – and dangerous.

Perhaps if there were more doctors, or if there were better hours, or if the pay wasn’t so relatively decimated by years of caps and inflation, or if an improved work-life balance was achievable, the NHS wouldn’t be seeing this unprecedented resignation crisis. Many GPs have cut back to work only three days a week. Is it any wonder? They’re the lucky ones: they’ve escaped from what can often feel like the barren, unfriendly landscape of hospital life, where workers don’t experience the same work-life balance, particularly if you’re a junior.

The NHS is a victim of its own success: it has provided vital healthcare, free at the point of use, to those who need it most. But after the creation of a system that sounded too good to be true, it was inevitable that demand would very quickly outweigh resources. The NHS needed to reorganise well before Covid, but the pandemic has simply amplified any pre-existing issues tenfold.

The health service has been unable to slow down and revamp itself at the points it has most needed to because it’s never had a chance to stop. Old traditions and cultures have been stamped out; new changes jar with a way of working that refuses to fully modernise.

New jobs are being created without the problems of those pre-existing ones being solved. Different trusts operate in entirely different ways. Some hospitals are still paper-based; those that don't have tech teams that aren’t always available around the clock, when they are needed. Rotas are pre-arranged, annual leave is not always, if at all, easy to book, though nepotism may get you somewhere. Waiting lists are rising exponentially, emergency departments are routinely overwhelmed and Covid still causes staffing issues.

So when, given all this, the medical hierarchy punches down, it’s no wonder that the NHS is facing a record staff exodus. The NHS is breaking – and patients and doctors are paying the price.

WRITTEN BY Lucy Dunn  is The Spectator's social media editor. She studied medicine at Glasgow University

Mohammad Yasin attends Bedford RMT picket lines same day as Sam Tarry sacked by SIR Keir Starmer

By Fay Barrett
-28 July 2022


Mohammad Yasin visited striking RMT worker picket lines in Bedford yesterday, the same day that Labour front bencher Sam Tarry was sacked by Keir Starmer for attending a London protest.

Mr Yasin, Labour MP for Bedford and Kempston, visited the picket lines outside Bedford Train Station with members of Bedford & District Trade Union Council (BDTUC) on Wednesday 27 July. He went to show his, “support for the rail workers who have a very strong democratic mandate to strike over pay, safety and working conditions.”


This came on the same day as Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, sacked Shadow Transport Minister, Sam Tarry, for attending the RMT protest at Euston station.

In a statement yesterday, about the Tarry sacking, Labour said: “This isn’t about appearing on a picket line. Members of the front bench sign up to collective responsibility. That includes media appearances being approved and speaking to agreed front bench positions.

“As a government in waiting, any breach of collective responsibility is taken extremely seriously and for these reasons Sam Tarry has been removed from the front bench.”

Frontbencher Tarry had been told by Starmer to stay away whereas Mr Yasin said he was not told he could not attend a picket line.

Mr Yasin said he supported, “Keir Starmer’s actions to ensure collective responsibility.” He said: “Labour needs to be a credible Government in waiting and it’s always been the case, if you’re a front bench minister on either side of the House that you don’t make up policy on the hoof without consulting colleagues.”

He added: “Labour is a party of the working people” who would, “always stand up for workers and businesses”.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) called for strike action on 27 July to “secure a decent pay rise, job security and decent working conditions”.

According to a statement on the RMT website, “over 40,000 workers across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies” were expected to “walk out” yesterday.

In the statement, RMT General Secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Network Rail have not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the Train Companies have not offered us anything new.

“In fact, Network Rail have upped the ante, threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50% cuts to maintenance work, if we did not withdraw our planned strike action.

“The train operating companies have put driver only operations on the table along with ransacking our members terms and conditions.”

President of the Bedford and District Trade Union Council (BDTUC), Graham Tranquada, said of the strikes: “We fully support RMT members in their dispute to resist a pay offer which amounts to a pay cut and demands from the employers for job losses, worsening of working terms and conditions, including un-social hours and safety practises.

“It cannot be right that following years of austerity and pay freezes that RMT members are expected to pay for a crisis not of their making.”

Mr Yasin pointed to the disparity between the huge pay-outs made to rail company shareholders last year while employees took pay cuts.

He said: “Train companies paid out nearly £800m to shareholders last year before telling rail unions that employees must take a real-terms pay cut for them to stay afloat, whilst threatening passenger safety through merging specialising roles.”

He criticised Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, saying he was, “directly responsible for industrial relations” and was “tying himself in knots trying to blame Labour for the rail strikes instead of his own failures to prevent strike action.”

Mr Yasin further criticised the government saying, instead of, “listening to the genuine grievances of workers who feel very vulnerable and are struggling,” their response was to “reduce the right to withdraw labour to another divisive culture war.”

His message for the Conservative Government was simple: “get around the table and lead the negotiations with rail companies and Unions in good faith.”

He called the cost-of-living crisis, “a wages crisis”, saying, “too many workers can no longer make ends meet while working conditions are under threat and pensions are being eroded.”

Mr Yasin pointed out that workers strike as a last resort and said a Labour Prime Minister would have resolved the issues before leaving workers feeling like they had no choice.