Railways
What the draft manifesto says: A Labour government will introduce a public ownership of the railways bill to repeal the Railways Act 1993 under which the Conservatives privatised our railways. In public ownership, we will deliver real improvements for passengers by freezing fares, introducing free wifi across the network, ensuring safe staffing levels and ending driver-only operation, and by improving accessibility for disabled people.
Analysis: Polling shows that more than 20 years after John Major’s Conservative government privatised the old British Rail, many commuters and the public are open to the idea of giving the state another go. Recent polls have shown 58-60% of the public back the idea. Public dissatisfaction with rail privatisation has partly been fuelled by a surge in passengers numbers far outstripping the extra investment in rolling stock, safety and stations.
But as the detail of the Labour’s manifesto pledge shows, this is no policy of 1970s-style state confiscation without compensation. The cautious phrase “as franchises expire” carefully limits the effect of this policy and avoids the problem of the cost of buying out the existing contracts. There are currently 15 rail franchises in place and their length varies from an initial seven to 10 years to longer 15-22-year contracts, so it is going to be a lengthy process.
