UK rail strike: second day of action to go ahead after talks fail again

RMT accuses government of wrecking negotiations' as operators and passengers prepare to face further disruption on Thursday

Talks to avert a second national rail strike collapsed in rancour as the two sides traded insults in a bitter war of words as millions of passengers faced another day of disruption.

In increasingly fraught negotiations, the head of the RMT hit out at the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, for wrecking negotiations" in the dispute over pay, working conditions and proposed modernisation" plans to cut costs after the pandemic.