Labour MPs defy Keir Starmer by joining striking train drivers on picket line

‘If you can’t support a picket line maybe you shouldn’t be a Labour MP’, says Aslef union boss

Labour MPs Dawn Butler (left) and Barry Gardiner (right) with Aslef’s general secretary Mick Whelan (centre) (PA)

Several Labour MPs have defied the stance taken by party leader Sir Keir Starmer by appearing at picket lines in a show of support for train drivers striking over pay.

Rail passengers were hit by widespread disruption on Saturday as thousands of members of the Aslef rail union – drivers from nine operating companies – staged a 24-hour strike.

Senior Labour MPs have been warned not to visit staff at picket lines outside train stations, but left-wingers Dawn Butler and Barry Gardiner joined drivers at Willesden station in west London.