IDS: Tube strikes must be banned

Iain Duncan Smith today called for Tube strikes to be banned, if necessary by law.

The threat marked a sharp step to the right. It would, if the Conservatives came to power, pitch the party into a massive confrontation with the militant unions.

As the Government launched its own Tube plans, the Opposition leader called for a four-point "Passenger Guarantee" - more trains, more reliable services, better safety and no strikes.

In a statement to the Evening Standard, he attacks the PPP proposal as "deeply flawed", declaring that private companies should have been given a wider role. But he says that a Conservative government would not seek to unstitch it except as a last resort.

Mr Duncan Smith declares: Over the last five years London Underground has become less reliable, less safe, more crowded, and more expensive. The bad news is that, under proposals the Government is announcing today, it is likely to stay that way. Labour have spent five years digging themselves deeper into a hole, because they have lost sight of what passengers want.

By relentlessly pushing PPP they have become embroiled in a fruitless tussle with Ken Livingstone. All their attention has been focused on the kind of financial structures that, frankly, leave even hardened City financiers bewildered.

The Government should require the Mayor and Transport for London to enter into binding contracts on each of the Four Guarantees.

Creating a working environment free of strikes was vital to the regeneration of the New York subway. There is no reason why a no-strike agreement should not be successively negotiated but, if necessary, we would legislate to give legal force to the need to keep the Tube running.