Welcome to our live coverage of today's events as England, Scotland and Wales brace for rail strikes, which begin tomorrow.

We've just heard from the transport secretary, and his opposite number in the House of Commons.

Here's a quick recap.

Image source, HoC

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps

• He says the government is keeping out of talks aimed at averting strikes between rail bosses and unions
• Shapps repeated his claim that industrial action would "endanger" jobs rather than save them
• He denies any accusation that the government is imposing a pay freeze on rail workers
• He went on to defend the government's plans for reforms of the rail industry, which he says are aimed at building a "sustainable growing railway"
• Shapps says the government is doing everything it can to minimise the disruption being caused by the strikes

Image source, HoC

Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh responded, she says:

• The government has overseen a "catastrophic failure of leadership"
• Haigh claimed talks that have broken up were a "sham" because "ministers have set them up to fail"
• She urged Shapps to intervene in the labour dispute by getting "employers and unions around the table"
• She added that the likes of “patients, children and low-paid workers" deserved a "resolution" before the strike upsets their plans

Celestina Olulode
Reporting from Euston

The strikes haven’t even begun and people have already changed their travel plans.

One passenger told me his cancer check-up appointment had been pushed forward so he wouldn’t be affected. While he was grateful the medical team had reacted swiftly, he is angry at those who will strike.

He compared the planned industrial action to that during the 1970s and questioned whether anything would change as a result. “Businesses need to make profit,” he told me.

Another passenger, who plans on travelling to Heathrow Airport later in the week, has opted to rent a car to ensure his journey won’t be impacted. It means he will have to spend more money than planned.

But at the same time, other passengers say they haven’t been affected and don't feel strongly about what's going on.

Modernisation is key to unlocking more money for a pay deal for railway workers, Network Rail tells the BBC.

Spokesman Kevin Groves says the railway industry is locked in working practices that date back to the 1950s and 60s, and which need to be reformed.

Modernisation could save hundreds of millions of pounds, he says.

"The government have given us a clear mandate and framework to negotiate, and we believe we have enough wriggle room, if unions would compromise on modernisation, to generate enough savings to put a decent pay offer on the table," he says.

He says Covid has "changed travel patterns on the railway forever" and "we have to make the railway more efficient, otherwise it's going to go into terminal decline".

Jay Rangan, from Harrow, Greater London, says he will take a day off work on Thursday to bring his daughter to school for a GCSE exam.

The journey normally takes 50 minutes by train and bus.

"I was going to take half a day off but I have extended it to a whole day’s leave as I will need to pick her up from school," he says.

"I know loads of other parents in a similar situation. It’s difficult for some as they work in hospitals for instance."

He adds it's "appalling" the strike is happening during exam season.

"The exam results could affect the rest of their lives. I’m lost for words," he says.

Rangan says his daughter's school has advised parents to stay at a hotel nearby or with family or friends who live nearby.

"The school can’t do anything - these are national exams so they can’t be held at a different time."

Image source, Getty Images

Ministers owe it to all those affected by the strikes to get around the table and join negotiations, the shadow transport secretary says.

But not only has Grant Shapps boycotted the talks, he has given no mandate to negotiate whatsoever, which has meant the pay claims cannot be discussed.

"These talks are a sham because ministers have set them up to fail," Labour's Louise Haigh continues.

Despite strikes beginning tomorrow, Haigh insists there is “still time” for transport secretary to “do the brave thing” and intervene in the dispute between the RMT union and rail employers.

“Patients, children and low-paid workers need a resolution,” Haigh says.

“Even now at this late hour, I urge him: get around the table and do your job."

Image source, HoC

Even at this 11th hour, the strike can still be avoided, says shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh.

But she says to do so "requires ministers to step up and show leadership, and get employers and unions around the table and address the very serious issues on pay and on cuts to safety and maintenance staff behind this dispute".

The entire country is about to be ground to a halt, but instead of intervening to try and stop it the secretary of state is washing his hands of any responsibility," she says.

She says her opposite number, Grant Shapps, has "not lifted a finger to resolve it".

"Should these strikes go ahead they will represent a catastrophic failure of leadership," she says.

The transport secretary continues, saying his "message to the workforce" is that strikes have been called on "false pretences".

Grant Shapps says rail workers have been told industrial action will protect their jobs, but instead it will endanger their livelihoods.

"We have a programme for change," he says - and goes on to defend government plans for rail reform and a more "agile, flexible workforce - not one that strikes every time someone suggests a change to the railways".

Union claims this is a strike about a pay freeze are factually incorrect, Grant Shapps tells MPs in his statement in the House of Commons.

"We are not imposing a pay freeze," he says.

"The whole point of these reforms is in fact to build a sustainable growing railway where every rail worker receives a decent annual pay rise."

But for modernisation and reform to work, the country needs unions who are prepared to modernise, he says.

"Otherwise there can be no deal."

The transport secretary says the government is doing "everything we can, despite these strikes, to minimise the disruption throughout the entire [rail] network".

Shapps tells the Commons his department is "working with the civil contingencies secretariat - the government's emergency planning team - to keep critical supply chains open where possible", but admits this won't be enough to stop disruption.

"It's estimated that around 20% of planned services will operate, focused on key workers, main population centres and critical freight routes," he says.

"But there'll be mass disruption and we advise passengers to avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary which, of course, for many it will be."

Grant Shapps addresses the controversy over whether the unions have been able to have constructive talks, saying: "The unions are in daily talks with the employers - or at least they were until they walked out an hour ago to go and hold a press conference saying the strikes would be on."

The RMT union has blamed the "dead hand" of government after negotiations to prevent the biggest rail strikes in 30 years failed.

You can read more about how the industrial action got to this point here.

The Transport Secretary tells the Commons that the government is doing its "utmost" to get the strikes called off.

But Grant Shapps reiterates the government will leave the talks to the unions and rail employers.

"We are not the employer," he says. "We will not undermine the process as well".

Image source, HoC

The public will not be hoodwinked by unions claiming others are "somehow preventing" negotiations coming to an agreement, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says.

He says people missing medical appointments or events such as Glastonbury will not believe that is the case.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is on his feet in the House of Commons.

Stay with us for updates on what he says.

A short time ago, his government was blamed by the RMT union for cuts to the rail industry which prompted the strike.

Shapps earlier told the BBC the strikes were "completely unnecessary".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official spokesman has said it is ”deeply disappointing” that “these disruptive, self-defeating strikes will take place this week”.

We're expecting more from the government shortly.

This week's rail strikes are "completely unnecessary", says the transport secretary.

Grant Shapps says the industrial action has been called “on the false pretence that there wasn’t going to be a pay rise, even though there was always going to be a pay rise”.

Shapps tells the BBC, ahead of his statement in the Commons shortly, that members of the RMT union - which represents the striking rail staff - have been “led up a garden path”.

He argues “only the employers have the ability to be able to negotiate what are complex and detailed areas of reform” and only the employer can “give a pay rise in return for modernising the railway”.

When asked if the government would step in, Shapps says there is “no way a minister could step into that discussion and be of any help”, arguing they would actually be a hindrance.

Just a little bit more from the RMT's Mick Lynch who says employers are using Covid and working from home arrangements as a "smokescreen to get rid of decent conditions, decent pay rates and decent agreements".

He adds: "Everybody wants our cities, towns and villages to recover. The way we do that is having a decent transport system that can be relied on, is safe and accessible. Cutting rail staff, services and funding is the opposite to that."

You can read the full RMT statement here., external

We've been hearing from RMT leader Mick Lynch, who's been hitting out at the government over cuts to the rail industry.

We'll be hearing from the other side shortly with Transport Minister Grant Shapps expected to speak in the House of Commons. Stay with us.

Asked about talk of calls for a 12% pay rise causing a wage spiral, Lynch says: "Nobody has had a 12% pay rise, most people have not had a pay rise at all in this country for three years."

He says many people have not had a "proper" pay rise since the Cameron coalition government was elected in 2010.

"The idea that there is a wage price spiral, that the accelerating wages of workers is causing prices to go up, is a nonsense. What's causing prices to go up is profiteering. Profits in this country are not down, what is down is wages. The only people that are paying the price of Covid is the working class people."

He adds: "Nobody has had 12% and nobody has asked for 12%, by the way."

Image source, PA Media

Asked if the RMT is supported by the Labour leadership, Mick Lynch says it has a problem because it needs to connect to working class voters and find some policies that connect to those voters.

There is going to be a wave of strike action, Keir Starmer and his team have got to find a way to connect to that feeling and "ride that wave of resistance" and be in harmony with it rather than standing to the side, Lynch says.

Lynch is asked what makes RMT members special when the whole country is suffering.

"We're not special," he says.

"We have got a membership that is prepared to fight for what we've got. What the rest of the country suffers from is lack of power, the lack of the ability to organise and the lack of the wherewithal to take on these employers that are continually driving down wages and making the working class in the country poorer year on year on year, while the rich get richer."