TRAIN drivers have been branded “working class” by Labour ministers – even if they earn an £80,000 salary.
The government yesterday admitted a scheme limiting civil service internships to youngsters from “low socio-economic backgrounds” will include the children of well-paid locomotive staff.
But children of police and prison officers who earn less than some train drivers won’t be able to apply because they are deemed by Labour to be “middle class”.
The classifications follow a deal by the militant RMT and Transport for London last month that will see Tube drivers in London hit almost £80,000 by 2027.
A similar agreement has been struck with LNER.
Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Alex Burghart slammed ministers for barring Brits from the civil service scheme because of their social class.
He called the move “incoherent, unfair and arbitrary”.
Mr Burghart said: “Children of working people face active discrimination in public life because of their parents’ occupation.”
Mike Wood, the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, added: “Keir Starmer has been hoisted by his own petard.
“His vindictive crusade against middle England has exposed that he’s never been working class.
“Labour’s hypocritical tax rises are hammering working people across the country, whatever spurious definitions Labour cook up to justify yet more tax hikes.”
Ministers announced the scheme in August, calling it a bid to boost diversity and ensure Whitehall better reflects the country.
Eligibility will be based on what job an applicant’s parents had when they were aged 14.
Announcing the scheme in August, then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, said: “We need to get more working-class young people into the Civil Service so it harnesses the broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country.”
