Keir Starmer’s trade union conundrum

Where does the Labour party stand on the rail strikes? It is a question government ministers have spent much of their time demanding an answer to, rather than, as critics might suggest, trying to find a compromise that would avoid further strikes. It is, in any case, a rhetorical question: the Conservative party some time ago began to refer to ‘Labour’s strikes’. Downing Street clearly hopes the sight of a trade union disrupting commuters’ lives will help voters forget all about partygate and bring them flocking back to Boris.

So far as some in the Labour party are concerned, the answer to the Tories’ question is obvious. Wishing victory to the RMT, the former leader of the party in Scotland, and keen Corbynite, Richard Leonard tweeted: ‘It’s a basic principle. You don’t debate whether you back workers on strike or not’. This quasi-religious position sees unions as sacred objects, ones beyond criticism.