London’s overnight tube service may not return before Spring 2021 with union bosses warning there must be “no return to austerity”.

Transport for London (TfL) has said with current lockdown in place normal Night Tube service “doesn’t exist”.

Bosses have announced there are “no plans in the immediate future” to restart the Friday and Saturday night service.

The 24 hour night tubes ordinarily run on the Jubilee and Victoria lines and most of the Central, Piccadilly and Northern lines but were halted when coronavirus lockdown measures began in March.

A TfL spokesperson said: “We have worked hard to restore as much of a normal Tube service as possible to help customers maintain social distancing and are now running over 85 per cent of normal services.

“Part of this work has involved moving drivers from shifts on the Night Tube to the daytime service to increase the frequency of trains we are able to run.

“With the current lockdown regulations in place normal demand for the Night Tube doesn’t exist.

“This is expected to build back up over time, but before reintroducing the Night Tube we will need to be confident that we can continue to provide extensive services for the higher demand times of day.

“Consequently we don’t plan to restart the service in the immediate future, but we keep everything under review.”

Union members have responded highlighting the “fragile situation” across London’s transport service due to Covid-19 and said that the government needs to support TfL with “no strings” attached.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “The confirmation that there will be no night tube until March next year is a reminder of how fragile the situation is across London’s transport services as we slowly emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown.

“It is also a reminder of why TFL will need continued Government support without strings to protect the services that will be crucial to our recovery from this emergency.

“RMT has made it clear that we will take whatever action is required to protect the jobs and conditions of the staff who have kept essential workers moving throughout this crisis.

“There must be no return to cuts and austerity.”

The tube operates between 5am and 1am “most days” and Night buses continue to operate.