Andy Burnham has overseen a substantially improved pay deal for Avanti West Coast train drivers, agreed after the Aslef union threatened strike action on the London-Manchester route. Drivers, who already start on around £70,000, will receive an above-inflation 3.6 per cent pay rise plus enhanced payments for Sunday and rest-day working, a settlement Conservatives have criticised as an expensive capitulation to union demands.

Under the agreement, drivers get time-and-a-half for Sunday shifts and can earn up to £720 extra for covering a fifth working day. The deal followed rejection of an earlier offer and a strike ballot, with leaked correspondence showing Aslef used the threat of action to press Avanti and the Government into an improved package. It comes as Avanti has cut 38 daily services over summer and posted punctuality of just 57.4 per cent, while LNER drivers have separately been offered 12 per cent over four years; the Government says settling such disputes avoids repeats of the roughly £850million in lost revenue caused by rail strikes between 2022 and 2024.