TRADE unionists passed an emergency motion at the TUC Congress today calling for an urgent meeting with the government to halt railway ticket office closures.

TUC president Maria Exall declared: “Congress has spoken — stop the ticket office closures” as the motion was approved to rapturous applause in Liverpool.

The vote coincided with the Save Our Ticket Offices Campaign by rail union RMT receiving cross-party support in the Commons.

Back-bench Tories joined hundreds of thousands of members of the public in opposing the plans to close nearly 1,000 ticket offices in England, as RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told the Commons that the consultation process on the proposals was a “sham.”

After nearly 700,000 responses were received, Mr Lynch told the transport select committee: “The massive response has been expected, but we think the whole thing has been a sham designed to be rammed through while people are looking the other way.

“It all goes back to the Secretary of State [Mark Harper].

“The Secretary of State initiated these changes through the contracts he has with the TOCs [train operating companies].

“He directs everything they do these days. Every letter that’s sent, he gets access to.

“Of course, if the watchdogs object [to the closures] on the limited basis they’re allowed to, the decision will end up with him as well.

“It’s a controlled show. The whole thing is designed so that they can force this through in a way that they want.”

Former Tory government minister Mark Francois told the debate: “These proposals are completely unloved. They are not popular even among Conservative backbenchers — quite, quite the opposite. Please minister, a mistake has been made.

“Take the hint — drop it, get rid of it, retreat gracefully, but do not press forward with this. The House of Commons doesn’t want it and neither do our constituents.”

Labour MP Grahame Morris warned that the loss of ticket offices would result in the loss of statutory staffing-level protections on the railways.

He said: “The truth is there’s no guarantee that, once the ticket offices are closed, the staff will be there.

“We’ve been sold a pup.”

Passenger watchdogs decided to extend the consultation period to October 31 as Katie Pennick, campaigns and communications manager at the Transport for All charity, told the committee that many people “have not had a fair opportunity” to comment on the proposals.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the Transport Focus watchdog, which is analysing the responses to the consultation, added that his organisation was “not in any way opposed to the principle of redeploying staff out of ticket offices on to a more visible role on to stations.”

Age UK head of policy Christopher Brooks said there was a “lack of understanding” about how difficult it is for people who are not internet users to buy tickets from machines at stations.

And Simon Moorhead, chief information officer at the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and is making the proposals, told MPs that closing station ticket offices was partly about cutting costs.

The TUC emergency motion called on the union confederation’s general council to seek urgent meetings with government and passenger watchdogs.

It will now demand the withdrawal of the closure plans and other threats to rail workers’ jobs and conditions, which have caused the disputes with the sectors’ unions, before October 31.

The TUC will also lobby parliament to ensure that the Commons debates take place before the deadline and co-ordinate with its affiliates to explore options for supporting legal challenges to the closures.

Welcoming the move, Peter Pendle, interim general secretary of rail union TSSA, said: “The passing of today’s emergency motion shows that the entire trade union movement is with us in our fight to save ticket offices.”

RMT assistant general secretary John Leach told delegates after the committee hearing that there was “cross-party support now against these diabolical proposals to close every ticket office in this country.”