Mick Lynch, the General Secretary of the RMT, says "the government is provoking the situation" by blocking movement towards a deal between his union and Network Rail.
Speaking outside London's Euston Station, where a skeleton service is running during a 48-hour RMT strike, Lynch apologises to travellers for the disruption which will continue in the run-up to Christmas, but adds that "our members have been put in an impossible position."
