Boris Johnson says any future government bailout of Transport for London should come on the condition that it reduces its reliance on human drivers on the tube network.

City AM reports that the Prime Minister told journalists that trains can be run without somebody sitting in the driver’s cab all the time.

“So what I will be saying to the London transport authority is let’s take advantage of this technological leap forward — let’s not be the prisoners of the unions anymore,” the financial paper quotes him as saying. “Let’s go to driverless trains, and let’s make that a condition of the funding settlement for Transport for London this autumn.”

Johnson tried to introduce some autonomy into the tube network during his time as London Mayor but faced union resistance over potential job losses.