A NEW “dark age” will hit London’s transport network if the government imposes more “politically motivated austerity,” unions warned today.

As negotiations closed between ministers and City Hall on funding for Transport for London (TfL), RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Rumours abound of a deal based on either cuts today or another temporary package with cuts imposed later in the year.

“Either way, we seem to be set to go back to the dark age of London Transport when the network was starved of funds for political reasons.