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Labour's shadow transport minister Sam Tarry backs striking rail workers

Sam Tarry: I'm backing transport workers who are on strike and backing the travelling public

Labour's shadow transport minister has defied leader Sir Keir Starmer by joining striking rail workers on the picket line.

Sam Tarry told the BBC he was "backing transport workers who are on strike" and "the travelling public".

He added that "any Labour MP, any Labour member, will have absolute solidarity with striking workers".

Speaking on Tuesday, Sir Keir said his frontbench MPs should not attend picket lines.

The Labour leader's office issued similar instructions during the last round of strikes in June but the handful of frontbenchers who ignored the orders were not dismissed from their jobs.

Sir Keir will now face questions over whether he will sack Mr Tarry, who is a supporter of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, from his junior shadow ministerial role.

The strikes have been called after negotiations between the RMT and Network Rail over pay, pensions and conditions failed to find a compromise.

About 40,000 RMT union members are walking out meaning only 20% of train journeys are expected to go ahead on Wednesday, with knock-on effects likely to roll on to Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at London's Euston station, Mr Tarry said he was "here as a shadow transport minister backing transport workers who are on strike".

The Ilford South MP added that under a Labour government "this dispute would not be happening" because a "fair pay deal would have been in place".

On Tuesday, Sir Keir told BBC 4's Today programme he would be telling his shadow frontbench not to go on the picket lines in the strikes, arguing: "A government doesn't go on picket lines, a government tries to resolve disputes."

However, sources close to Mr Tarry argued he was not disobeying his leader's orders because there had been no specific instructions about the strikes taking place on Wednesday.

Beth Winter Labour MPs appear on picket line outside Victoria Station in central LondonBeth Winter
Labour MPs appearing on a picket line outside Victoria Station in central London in June

Four junior frontbenchers - Paula Barker, Ruth Jones, Navendu Mishra and Kate Osborne - have also tweeted their solidarity with the rail workers.

Labour have not officially shown support for the strikes, and instead focused their attacks on the government, accusing ministers of not trying to resolve the situation.

The party's shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had spent "more time on his doomed 48-hour leadership bid" than on resolving the strikes.

Mr Shapps has called the strikes "completely wrong" but insisted "only the employer" can sort the dispute.