Do the Tories have the most to lose from rail strikes?

For the Conservative Party right now, every voter counts – another round of walkouts and ensuing chaos could be the final nail in the coffin, writes Sean O’Grady

Aslef has announced a round of strikes this week (PA)

The train drivers, ie members of Aslef, are on strike again, and with quite an ambitious programme of industrial action, as the travelling public has realised. In fact, this is the third successive year when train services have been seriously disrupted by industrial action, much to the frustration of ministers.

The drivers will stop work between Tuesday 30 January and Monday 5 February. Thousands of trains are likely to be cancelled every day. The effect will be exacerbated by a nine-day ban on overtime running from 29 January to 6 February.

Because of short-staffing, regular overtime is one way the train operators can keep services running under their franchise agreements – it’s essential.