London (Parliament News) – Labour’s shadow transport secretary advocates nationalizing UK railways within five years, citing failures under the Conservative government and proposing Great British Railways.
UK’s railways have become a “symbol of national decline” under the Conservatives, the shadow transport secretary has stated, reporting Labour’s objectives to nationalise the rail network within five years of governance.
In an address at Trainline headquarters on Thursday, Louise Haigh expressed “Today’s broken model simply doesn’t work”, with train revocations at a record high and fares having increased almost twice as fast as wages since 2010.
Jody Ford, the chief executive of the travel company, reflected Haigh’s words, saying rail had “significant power and possibility” to drive economic growth into all parts of the country’s communities.
Haigh stated: “Our railways are critical to making our country a better, wealthier and happier place. We can only achieve our five national missions if we unlock the trapped potential of our railways to boost growth, and opportunity and to connect all of us with each other, with work and with pleasure.”
What Strategy Does Labour Have for Rail Reform?
Haigh expressed a Labour government would specify Great British Railways, which she described as a “single directing intellect to control our railways in the passenger interest”. She quipped that she wasn’t allowed to call the nationalised railway “Rail Britannia” and would not rule out an acceptance of her plan from the Conservative ex-transport secretary Grant Shapps.
Questioned why Labour could not guarantee cheaper and more inexpensive train tickets under their plans, Haigh stated it was Labour’s “ambition” to make fares more affordable but “simplification is our priority” via the party’s best fare guarantee scheme.
Haigh acknowledged that the plan would take time, as the final private operator agreement with a core term was not due to end until 2027. “We’d expect all contracts to be brought under Great British Railways by that time,” she informed BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme. “It will take time; there are no overnight fixes to a very complex system. We’re not starry-eyed about this.”
But a Labour government would instantly be able to create a “shadow Great British Railways [organisation] to fire the starting gun on reform” and ensure the party did not lose time or momentum. It would bring jointly key players including Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group, before direct legislation was passed to formally launch GBR as an arm’s length body.
Why is Rail Nationalization Essential for Labour?
“The Conservative party has committed the worst of all worlds for our railways, partly privatised, overly centralised, expensive, but unreliable, disconnected and shamefully unaccountable,” Haigh stated.
She mentioned Shapps, who once stated: “Unlike most privatisations, that of the railways has never become publicly accepted, because its failings have remained all too obvious … The fragmentation of the network has made it more illogical for passengers, and more difficult and expensive to perform the essentially collaborative task of running trains on time.”
Haigh also promised to see the “workforce as an asset rather than a liability” but she declined to commit to a pay boost because she had “not seen the books wouldn’t do that in an unfunded way”. But she promised to meet the unions on day one to solve the strikes that she said were costing £25m a day.