RAIL union RMT has angrily dismissed an SNP call to defer industrial action in Scotland until after the Cop26 environment summit as “bare-faced cheek.”

As Scotrail workers stood on picket lines today in existing disputes over parity, a statement by the party’s five back-bench Glasgow MSPs heaped praise on rail staff — but called on the union to shelve plans for a fresh ballot for action over pay.

The five — Bob Doris, James Dornan, Bill Kidd, John Mason and Kaukab Stewart — drew fury from the union by describing plans for a strike vote in the run-up to the summit as “an unhelpful way for the union’s London bosses to go about kick-starting those negotiations.”