Hundreds of bus drivers will go on strike over a wage dispute.

Unite union members employed by Stagecoach in Merseyside will be out on June 30 and again on July 4.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham said: “Stagecoach is a very profitable business – they can easily afford to pay their workers a living wage, but they choose not to.

“Unite will always challenge employers who make excessive profits by exploiting and underpaying workers. Our members will receive Unite’s full support until this dispute is resolved.

Unite regional manager Dave Roberts said: “Unite members are going on strike as a last resort. Despite lengthy negotiations, Stagecoach refused to make an offer that met the members’ expectations.

“Even at this late stage, strikes and the inevitable disruptions they will cause can be avoided if Stagecoach makes a reasonable compensation offer.”

Dominic Raab said the government must “stand firm” in the face of RMT demands to improve wages and conditions on the railways.

The justice secretary said the strikes were “deeply regrettable” and that reform was needed in the railways.

“We must, of course, reform the way the railways work, given the new ways of working and the effect this has on commuter travel,” he said. Radio LBC. “But there are also old practices, which frankly, are way outdated and unnecessary, that need to be reformed.”

He added: “I think Network Rail is taking the right approach. We know the cost of living challenge is there, we know it affects all workers.

“But the only thing that will keep inflation higher for longer and undermine wages for longer is if we have a spiraling increase in public sector wages beyond what is responsible. And that’s what this is about.

“It is precisely to protect the wages of the lowest incomes that we must hold on.”

The country’s largest education union will consult with its members on industrial action this fall if the government fails to deliver a ‘plus inflation’ pay rise for teachers.

In a letter to Nadhim Zahawi – seen by The Independent – Joint General Secretaries of the National Education Union (NEU), warn they will not sit idly by ‘while you crush both education and educators’.

It comes amid the biggest industrial strike on the rail network in decades and latest figures showing UK inflation has hit a new 40-year high, climbing 9.1% in the 12 months preceding May, compared to 9% in April.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports:

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has defended the restoration of the triple pension lock, which will see benefits rise in line with inflation, at a time when the government opposes wages keeping pace with rising wages price.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They (pensioners) are particularly vulnerable and they are disproportionately affected by the rising energy costs that we know everyone is facing .”

The government had committed £37billion to help people cope with rising costs, he said, but “at the same time we need to stop making the problem worse by fueling wage demands that don’t will only keep inflation going longer and that only hurts. the poorest the worst”.

The Mayor of London has urged the government to make access to the NHS free for anyone living in the UK to avoid another Windrush scandal.

As the nation observes Windrush Day, Sadiq Khan has urged the government to end its hostile environmental policy and limit NHS pricing regulations for migrants, which are impacting undocumented Londoners as they struggle to prove their immigration status to get free health care.

This policy disproportionately affects patients from black, Asian and ethnic minorities and ending it would prevent a repeat of the situation which has seen members of the Windrush generation being charged with treatment – or refused treatment – according to the mayor.

Our race correspondent Nadine White reports:

Brexit will hurt Britain’s competitiveness, hurt productivity and slash workers’ wages for the rest of the decade, according to a damning new study.

The report by the Resolution Foundation think tank, working with the London School of Economics, said leaving the EU would make Britain “poorer” in the 2020s.

The study says the immediate impact of Brexit was already clear, with a “depreciation-induced spike in inflation” raising the cost of living for households and reducing investment.

political writer Adam Forest see you:

Dominic Raab has said the Government cannot ‘give in’ and allow striking railway workers to ‘win’ the argument amid the biggest industrial action on the network in three decades.

Risking a fresh clash, the deputy prime minister also called the actions of the country’s biggest rail union, RMT, “militant” – just minutes after insisting the government did not want the dispute to become ” politicized”.

As inflation hit a new 40-year high, the minister said it showed the need to take a ‘hard line’ with the union, telling Sky News there was a risk of a ‘circle vicious” wage hike pushing inflation even higher.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn see you:

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has insisted that human rights will be protected by new legislation which allows the government to override interim orders from a European court and could make it easier to deport foreign offenders.

Mr Raab, the Justice Secretary, told LBC Radio that the Bill of Rights measures would restore “common sense” to the system.

He said: “No one is talking about tearing up human rights in this country. We stay in the European Convention, we will strengthen these typically British rights such as freedom of expression.

“But I think when it comes to public protection, people want to see a dose of common sense and balance, that’s what our reforms will achieve.”

Speaking about the new bill of rights proposed today which will allow UK courts to override rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, Dominic Raab said the reforms will ‘strengthen freedom of expression and curb violations ” human rights.

“We’ve seen a lot of elastic interpretations of human rights – particularly fueled by human rights law – and we think it’s right to have a good separation of powers,” added the Justice Secretary.

“The UK Supreme Court should do what it says on tin- be supreme in legal interpretations.”

Labour’s shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said the government must act on the “magnitude” of the cost of living crisis.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast about the new 40-year inflation mark which was reported this morning, the Labor MP said: ‘It will come as no surprise to most people who see these price rises in gas pumps, in supermarkets and feel that every day.