TRANSPORT minister Baroness Vere scuppered a deal that would have ended an industrial dispute over Covid safety at the DVLA — and then misrepresented it to MPs, the PCS union said today.

The roads, buses and places minister admitted to the transport select committee on Wednesday that she had refused to sign off an agreement negotiated with officials in June.

Workers have been taking strike action since March over the agency’s failure to agree measures to protect staff, resulting in a backlog of 1.4 million cases, including driving licence applications.