Union bosses have been accused by the rail minister of co-ordinating "politically motivated" strikes on the Southern Railway network.

Paul Maynard said the Government's priority is to see "timely, reliable and predictable" services return as he attacked "needless" industrial action planned for December and beyond.

But opposition MPs called on Mr Maynard to strip Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the parent company of Southern, of its franchise.

A long-running dispute between Southern and its workers will see members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union strike for three days from Tuesday in protest at changes to the role of conductors.

Meanwile, the drivers' union Aslef is due to start an overtime ban on Southern from Tuesday ahead of planned strikes later in the month and in the new year in a row over driver-only trains.

Southern is taking legal action to try to stop the strikes.

Responding to an urgent question on the issue from the Green MP Caroline Lucas, Mr Maynard said: "Let me be clear: This strike action is politically motivated. It has affected passengers for far too long.

"Union leaders have even described this action as 'carrying on Fidel's work'.

"This will be of no comfort to passengers who just want to get to work."

Mr Maynard said the terms of a compensation package for season ticket holders will see them receive the equivalent of one free month of travel.

However, he said compensation was not enough.

"We have to restore a timely, reliable and predictable train service," he said.

He also said he will continue to ensure that the operator is "doing everything in its power" to improve services.

"But we also need union leaders to stop their needless, unreasonable, disproportionate and politically motivated strikes," he said.

Ms Lucas demanded to know what the Government was doing to resolve the crisis.

However, Mr Maynard responded to her concerns by simply suggesting that she should talk to her "friends" in the RMT union.

Ms Lucas, the MP for Brighton Pavilion, said the latest strike action on Southern followed two years of "rail chaos".

She said: "This situation is intolerable and the Government can't simply just wash its hands of involvement so will the minister roll up his sleeves and get stuck in to resolve the crisis?"

She added: "To end this stalemate, will your department take charge of this contract in the open, strip GTR of the franchise, bring it back in house?

"That at least would increase the transparency around what is going on here."

Ms Lucas also suggested that Mr Maynard did not understand the extent of the disruption faced by passengers.

She said: "I don't think the minister has any idea of the pain the passengers and businesses in Brighton and beyond are suffering because if he did he would be doing more about it.

"We have a catastrophic stalemate. What exactly is the minister going to do about this?"

Mr Maynard replied: "The best thing you could do on behalf of your constituents is to go and speak to your close friends in the RMT and tell them to call off their disproportionate and unreasonable industrial action.

"That is the best contribution you could make."

Labour joined Ms Lucas in calling on the Government to strip GTR of its franchise.

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: "GTR should have been stripped of their franchise long ago for failing to plan properly to take on the franchise as they themselves have admitted and providing what is by far the country's worst rail service."

Mr McDonald accused the Government of defending Southern "to the hilt" with ministers "excusing all their failings as being the consequence of an easily avoidable, resolvable industrial dispute".

He also suggested the Government was "repeatedly throwing taxpayers' money at the problem to act as sticking plasters for an irredeemably dysfunctional" franchise.

But Mr Maynard said the dispute is "entirely resolvable" as he urged the unions to call off the strikes.

The impact of the Southern strikes is expected to be significant with about 50% of the operator's timetable due to run on RMT strike days.

However, if the Aslef strikes go ahead no Southern services will operate, with only Thameslink services to Three Bridges and Brighton and a limited service on Gatwick Express.

The Southern industrial action was due to coincide with strikes on the London Underground.

RMT members on the Piccadilly and Hammersmith and City Lines were set to strike for 24 hours from Tuesday evening but the industrial action has now been suspended following successful talks.