RAIL strikes during COP26 will go ahead as planned, members of the RMT union have confirmed.

ScotRail workers are to strike from November 1 to 12 amid a dispute over pay and conditions.

The period spans the critical climate change summit in Glasgow. Road closures and detours will also be in place during the event while industrial action is also mooted for FirstGlasgow bus services.

Up to 30,000 people are expected to be attending the COP26 climate conference.

Earlier this week the TSSA union, which represents managers in the conductor and revenue teams at Scotland's train operator, said it would no longer take part in industrial action after accepting an improved pay offer.

But today RMT general secretary Mick Lynch confirmed strike action for his members will go ahead as planned during COP26 after ScotRail "failed to get serious" in talks with the union.

READ MORE: Mhairi Black: COP26 won't show the world what Scotland is really capable of

Lynch said: "There was a golden opportunity for Scotrail to make serious progress in talks today but instead they offered nothing of any consequence and as a result our action throughout COP26 goes ahead as planned."

Responding, a spokesperson for the Scottish Government spokesperson said ScotRail has been "in constructive discussion" with for weeks and had done so "in good faith".

Of the four bodies, three have either accepted or recommended acceptance of the pay offer. Only RMT has rejected this and the government spokesperson said ministers are "disappointed" but the matter "can be resolved" if RMT return to talks: "Having taken nearly two weeks to tell ScotRail they were rejecting the offer, ScotRail sought to return immediately to the table to focus on the area the RMT said publicly was their one remaining concern — rest day working. 

"An offer in this regard was made, the RMT undertook to consider it. We fully expected their representatives to return with a counter offer — that after all is the nature of negotiations — yet the RMT leadership rejected that offer out of hand and returned to the issue of pay."

They went on: "A credible, good pay offer has been made that we think most ScotRail employees would want to accept. We hope that the RMT leadership will recognise this too. But at this point, we are utterly perplexed by the leadership's inability to see that it is their members who stand to lose out, and that by its actions and unwillingness to seek meaningfully to resolve this matter, they are letting their members down.

"We don’t think anyone, including the membership of the RMT, wants to disrupt COP26 or the chance to showcase Scotland’s green, clean railway to a global audience. We hope that encompasses the RMT leadership too, although their approach to seeking resolution of matters does appear to call this into question."