TRANSPORT SECRETARY Mark Harper was reduced to a laughing stock among train drivers today after accusing rail unions of failing to support Ukraine by scheduling strikes.

Train drivers’ union Aslef told him that amongst all the false accusations levelled against trade unions, his was “really the most ridiculous” ever.

Mr Harper accused rail unions of “cynically targeting” events for strike action including the Eurovision Song Contest, which Britain is staging in Liverpool on May 13 on behalf of last year’s winners Ukraine.

Union members will walk out on May 12 as part of a long-running dispute over pay, as well as on May 31 and June 3, the day of the FA Cup final. The RMT transport union is striking on May 13.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “He claims we are not standing in solidarity with Ukraine when he knows — or should know — that we have stood in solidarity with the people of that country much longer than he has.

“We were visiting workers in that country when Mr Harper and his pals in the Tory Party were still pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds from Russian oligarchs close to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.

“I have been to Ukraine — I was there as the Russian tanks invaded — and Aslef’s assistant general secretary, Simon Weller, has been there to talk to rail workers when the Russian bombs were falling. Mr Harper hasn’t.”

Mr Whelan said he is not going to take lessons in solidarity from a Tory cabinet minister who “doesn’t understand what he is talking about.”

He said Mr Harper should tell train companies to negotiate and that the people causing strikes were the government and employers.

“And seeking a pay increase has nothing whatsoever to do with Ukraine,” he said.