Mick Lynch slams The S*n and aims freebie dig at Keir Starmer

Mick Lynch slammed The S*n and took aim at Sir Keir Starmer over free gifts of clothes as he spoke at a fringe event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. The general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) addressed an event titled 'Can Labour deliver on public transport?' at the Hilton Hotel in the city centre on Sunday (September 22), as the conference began.

Chaired by Liverpool Riverside's MP Kim Johnson, the session heard from Mr Lynch and Mick Whelan, the general secretary of the ASLEF union. Mr Lynch used his opening speech to call for Labour to go further on their plans to nationalise Britain's rail services and public transport networks.

However, he began his speech by referencing the ongoing freebie controversy which has dominated the news cycle heading into the conference. Sir Keir has been criticised for accepting gifts of clothes for himself and his wife Lady Victoria Starmer from multimillionaire Labour peer Lord Alli - as well as taking a number of event tickets.

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Mr Lynch told the room: "I was watching the news this morning and there were a lot of people making declarations about all their interests that they've got, so I've got to make a couple of declarations. All of my clothes are bought by my wife and she gets a full consultation with my designer - Marks & Spencer. That's on the table now and they're all under £49.99."

The union boss also took aim at The S*n, which has long been boycotted in Liverpool due its coverage of the Hillsborough disaster. Mr Lynch said: "There were also some questions about The S*n being involved and maybe turning up at this fringe.

"We won't be having The S*n, we won't be doing anything to support them." He added that he would not be speaking with GB News either. The fringe event looked to inform Labour's next steps on its transport policy.

In July, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh announced that Labour would bring all passenger rail into public ownership within five years. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill would mean that train operations would be provided by public sector company Great British Railways when existing franchise contracts end.

Mr Lynch welcomes that development, but urged Labour to go further in its plans. The RMT wishes for full public ownership of every aspect of the country's railways, be it rolling stock, infrastructure, passenger services or freight trains.

He said: "I'm glad we've seen the back of them (the Conservatives). I'm glad that they've gone and I'm hoping they won't come back for a very long time. We've got much to do and the question that was behind this meeting was 'can Labour deliver?'. The short answer is that of course they can, but there are problems ahead of us.

"The railway bill that we are going to get is good and we're not going to carp about what's being done, because we know it's like a ratchet. Privatisation of passenger railway services will be illegal once we get that royal ascent, they will be allowed to put these services out to public tender. What we have to be careful of though, is what's going on in our own house."

Mr Lynch continued: "We must take this on as one of the biggest issues of the movement during Labour's term. We've got a will to win on transport, we can have a brilliant system that delivers for everyone - affordable, safe, integrated public transport has to be our mission. It has to be at the service of the people by being in the ownership of the people - that's what our mission is.

He added: "It is the best way to run these systems - in the interest of the whole community. We will work with them but we will push them as hard as we can and I would urge any Labour politician to get on board with that mission. They've got to deliver on transport, they've got to deliver on employment rights, they've got to say no to austerity, they've got to say yes to investment in our infrastructure."

On a local level, the panel welcomed moves in the Liverpool City Region to bring aspects of the railway into public control. Last year saw the much-delayed rollout of the new class 777 Merseyrail trains, which are publicly-owned. Mr Whelan cited this as a part of a blueprint for the rest of the country to follow.

He said: "Steve Rotheram (Metro Mayor for the Liverpool City Region) decided he would not be beholden to the venture capitalists and he would buy his own trains. They are now in place, with agreements with the rail unions about how they operate and how they work.

"The most important economic factor of that is - they pay for themselves in five years. Those trains will then have a shelf life of 30 or 40 years, whereby the income that you're saving and not giving to someone based in the Cayman Islands can either come back for the greater good, new trains, more transport, more infrastructure - or spend it on that integrated transport - to allow the buses meet the trains and vice versa. We didn't see that under 23 years of privatisation."