Ministers are considering toughening up anti-strike laws that would curb walkouts on the railways with passengers facing the prospect of industrial action over Christmas.
One of the measures under consideration in Whitehall is the reviving of former prime minister Liz Truss'plan to make it harder for unions to secure support for strikes.
The unions in important public services like health, education, and transport need the support of 40 per cent of the entire workforce for a strike to go ahead.
Ms Truss pledged to change the law to raise this to 50 per cent, half of the workforce, and vote for a strike to go ahead.
The plans are fraught with potential difficulties, and the Government is already planning legislation to guarantee minimum service levels on the railways.
Downing Street is considering toughening the laws as unions threaten to havoc on the railways over the festive period, and Downing Street insists it is continuing with laws for minimum service levels.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spokesman was forced to defend delays to the relevant legislation that was initially promised in 2019, stressing that it is something we are proceeding with as quickly as possible because of the rapid churn of prime ministers and transport secretaries in recent months, he said. The laws are not expected to appear in Parliament before Christmas, meaning it is likely that the government will have to wait a long time before it can meet its Tory manifesto pledge to legislate to limit the impact of strikes on the railways.
It came as No 10 urged Mick Lynch, the Rail, Maritime and Transport RMT union general secretary, to call off all strikes over the festive period, including a walkout between Christmas Eve and 27 December at Network Rail engineering works that threatens to wreck travel plans.
The RMT were urged by No 10 to accept Network Rail's 4 per cent pay rise to follow this year's 5 per cent and no compulsory redundancies until 2025, rather than the union's unaffordable double-digit demands.
The railway network and infrastructure operator has funded its offer from existing budgets.
It is understood that for higher demands to be met, it may require greater taxpayer subsidy, which the Treasury is likely to oppose, or higher fares, which the Government has promised to hold below inflation when annual increases are announced in the coming weeks.
Mr Lynch insists he does not want to go ahead before Christmas due to the harm it could do to the UK's hospitality sector, but he argues that his members are being forced into action by the Government not giving the train operators the mandate to improve their pay and conditions.
A planned meeting between the RMT and the Rail Delivery Group RDG, which represents private companies that operate services, did not materialise on Tuesday, prompting Mr Lynch to insist that strikes planned for next week and in the New Year are going ahead. Lynch hopes to meet the RDG on Wednesday as timetables are beginning to be drawn up, so he hopes to avoid rail disruption next week.
Half of Britons oppose the walk outs between Christmas Eve and 27 December and 37 per cent support them, according to a YouGov poll.