THE NEW owner of Brighton Palace Pier has said the government should step in and smash the unions as a five-day rail strike looks set to start on Monday.

Luke Johnson hailed the late US President Ronald Reagan's notorious strike-breaking and said Southern rail strikers were "fighting the future".

He spoke out yesterday as businesses across the city also told The Argus of the damage to the economy since there has been months of rail delays.

An RMT union spokesman hit back at Mr Johnson, challenging him to "tell us that face to face on the picket lines", and compared him to controversial US Presidential candidate Donald Trump.

RMT member conductors are set to walk-out on Monday over changes to their role as talks with Southern rail ended last night with no agreement.

Bus and rail passengers in Brighton and Hove face a possible five further strikes between four unions.

Meanwhile those looking to attend Pride this weekend have been told by Southern not to travel by train.

In an email to The Argus, Mr Johnson said: “In August 1981 President Reagan fired over 10,000 air traffic controllers who were being wholly unreasonable in demands for new pay and conditions.

"He used strike breakers, military air traffic controllers and their supervisors to cover while they trained new ones.

"There were no accidents and the massive inconvenience inflicted on the travelling public by industrial action ended.

“I would suggest that the government steps in and takes a leaf out of Reagan's book. Those who work for effective monopolies (tube staff, junior doctors, train staff etc) should only be allowed to work to rule etc in very extreme examples, or perhaps not at all.

“In this case the rail workers are fighting the future and will fail - but probably only after an exceedingly damaging series of actions, where the principal victims are the public."

In response, RMT spokesman Geoff Martin said Mr Johnson had gone "full-on Trump".

He said: "If Luke Johnson really wants safety critical rail workers dragged off the trains in chains like Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers then he should have the guts to come and tell us that face to face on the picket lines.

"Luke Johnson has gone full-on Trump spewing out this reactionary, right wing garbage and we are sure the people of Brighton will take note."

Yesterday GTR, Southern's parent company, said the RMT had rejected a settlement offer including collective bargaining rights and a joint review of the new role after twelve months.

The RMT claimed the talks had been "sabotaged" by the Government.

General secretary Mick Cash said: "It was clear right from the start of these talks that there was no serious intent from Govia Thameslink to engage in genuine negotiations, and that their script was being written from behind the scenes by their government paymasters," he said.

Yesterday Brighton Pride director Paul Kemp said he was "disappointed" that Southern was advising people coming to the event (today and tomorrow) not to use trains due to the industrial dispute.

Less than 60 per cent of an already heavily reduced timetable are due to run during the strike.

Meanwhile Unite and Brighton and Hove Buses said talks were continuing over a possible bus drivers strike threatened by drivers.

RAIL DISPUTE A ‘MASSIVE IMPACT’ ON ECONOMY

Nick Head, owner of the Ambassador Hotel, in New Steine, Brighton, said: “I have already had one woman cancel a five-night booking for next week because of the trains.

“This will push people back into cars or force them into not coming at all.

“They need to get their act together.”

Jeremy Ogden, chairman of the Brighton and Hove Hotel Association, said: “It is becoming a massive problem. It’s deterring people from coming down.

“When they say they [the unions] have the support of the public, I’m not so sure.”

David Sewell, chairman of North Laine Traders Association, said: “We rely on a lot of people getting down on trains and then just walking around from Queen’s Road.

“It needs MPs and Government to really look at the train operators to make sure they are doing everything in their power to sort it out.”

Alan Robins, Brighton and Hove City Council tourism lead, said: “It could become a major problem if it continues.

“As a city we get a huge number of day trippers, about 10 million a year, and they rely on the trains.

“Tourism brings in around £860 million a year and we do not want to lose any of that, even in the short term.”

Paul Gibson, bookings and promotions manager at Patterns in Marine Parade, Brighton, said: “I’m sure this is having a huge effect generally on the economy.

“To be fair service has been poor for so much longer than has been publicised and it really is time that something was sorted out properly.”

Paul Barber, Brighton and Hove Albion chief executive, said: “It is hugely disappointing that our fans, along with many others, are being subjected to such inconvenience and uncertainty regarding their travel arrangements.

“Our business, like so many others, is now being severely disrupted by the dispute which, as a major customer of Southern, is totally unacceptable.

“Both sides should reflect on the damage this dispute is doing.”

A spokeswoman for the British Airways i360 said: “We have been inundated by visitors in the first two days.

“As the majority of tourists travel to Brighton by train, we hope that people can continue to make their way to the British Airways i360 to enjoy the summer sunshine.”

Viktors Jefimovs, manager of Volks nightclub in Madeira Drive, Brighton, said: “It has a massive impact. We have many customers who come from London.

“The last couple of times there has been a strike, we felt it straight away.

“Something has to change, because it does not work for anyone. It is a no-brainer.”

Adelaide Beard, from the The Lanes Hotel, Marine Parade, Brighton, said: “Some of our regulars normally arrive back at the hotel at about 6pm, but with the problems on the trains, now it is around 9pm – and they are exhausted.”

Max Levinson, general manager at the Sea Life Brighton, said: “It’s detrimental to a place like Brighton that relies on tourism and it is hurting very badly.

“People who travel to us by rail have dropped six per cent over the past week.

“We are disappointed the Government has not stepped in.”

Adam Chinnery, who runs Brighton Watersports, said: “The average time for people being late to our kayak and paddle-boarding courses was an hour and a half because of the trains.

“We have to run two courses because of this. It messes up our whole school.

“If the trains were my business I would be embarrassed. Stop blaming each other and sort it out, and keep the public out of it.”

Andrew Mosley, general manager of The Grand, said: “I don’t want to take sides but it is causing a lot of problems for a lot of people and a lot businesses.

“I’ve completely abandoned Southern because they’re so unreliable.

“It’s gone from bad to worse.”

Sue Addis, owner of Donatello restaurant, said: “I have real worries about next week; it’s really going to affect us.

“I also have worries about everything else that is going on in the city.

“If people can’t get to the football, for example, it will all have a knock-on effect.”