Labour pledges to renationalise most rail services within five years

Labour says it expects to renationalise most passenger rail services within five years, if it is elected.

The party says it will meet the pledge by bringing passenger services into public control as the contracts expire - but there will still be a role for the private sector. Automatic refunds for train delays and improved internet connections are among a series of other railway pledges. Rail Minister Huw Merriman said the plans were "pointless" and "unfunded". "They don't have a plan to pay for the bill attached to their rail nationalisation," he said. "Without a plan to pay for this, it means one thing: taxes will rise on hard working people." The word "nationalisation" doesn't appear in Labour's plan, but that is what it in effect amounts to. Private train companies have overseen a boom in rail usage since the days of British Rail, but they have also faced heavy criticism over fares and reliability. Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said there would still be a role for the private sector, adding that her party were not "ideologues" and that it was right to use private companies, where they add value. But she said the current system "was not working" and had led to delays and overcrowding. Labour is also pledging to deliver automatic refunds for delayed and cancelled journeys, better internet connection on trains and "a best-price ticket guarantee" ensuring passengers automatically pay the lowest possible amount for tickets when making contactless payments. Ms Haigh said the guarantee would not necessarily mean cheaper prices but that the system would be "more transparent and clearer". The government has also said it wants to simplify ticketing. She also said Labour had no plans to close ticket offices.

What will Labour change? Labour wants to bring services together under a body called Great British Railways, saying it would improve passengers' experience. The government promised to set up a new public sector body in 2021, with the same name, which would be responsible for rail infrastructure and awarding contracts to private companies. The plans have been delayed and although a draft bill to implement the proposal has now been published, it is unlikely to become law before the general election expected this year. During the pandemic, the government in effect took control of the railway, with most train companies in England moving onto contracts where they get a fixed fee to run services, and the taxpayer carries the financial risk. Four major operators, including TransPennine Express, have also been taken under public control and are being run by the government's Operator of Last Resort model. Labour says the move to bring services back into public control would not cost the taxpayer "a penny in compensation costs", and that "significant" savings can be made through public ownership including by reducing friction between operators and having less duplication of resources. It says the government estimated in the 2021 reform plan that it could save £1.5bn annually after five years by ending inefficiency and fragmentation. Labour is also not planning to nationalise rail freight companies or rolling stock companies. It would still allow privately financed "Open Access operators", such as Hull Trains and Lumo, to continue. Open Access operators currently run a relatively very small proportion of services. They run independently of government funding and are often in competition with franchised operators. She said a new watchdog - the Passenger Standards Authority - would "mercilessly" hold Great British Railways to account. Asked how soon passengers would see the improvements to services Labour claim would result from taking train companies into its version of GBR, Ms Haigh said: "We know there are no quick fixes and we're not going to see enormous change overnight. It will take time to legislate and put the structural changes in place." Asked how Labour would try to resolve the ongoing pay dispute with the train drivers' union Aslef, she said they would "sit down and work out" an answer, pointing out the transport secretary had not met the union since early last year. She told the BBC her party would "always want to modernise the railways and working practices", but this needed to be "done in partnership with the workforce and not treating them as an enemy". She said Labour would not be separating reforms from the negotiations. She did not say whether Labour would increase the pay offer on the table. Andy Bagnall, chief executive of Rail Partners, which represents train companies, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme while he agreed there was a need for "radical change", nationalisation was not the way to achieve it. He said the "best of both worlds" was to have Great British Railways as a public sector body while harnessing private operators to "attract passengers back and regrow the railway". This would ensure "the railway takes as little subsidy as possible", he said. "That's the danger with nationalisation - we believe that without that commercial focus, costs would creep up over time, revenue growth will be slower and the taxpayer is the one that loses out." Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said the Conservatives had "left commuters paying higher prices for poor services and endless disruption". "The Liberal Democrats want a plan which puts commuters first by establishing the Great British Railway body after years of the government dithering." RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said Labour's plan to bring train operating companies into a publicly-owned network was "in the best interests of railway workers, passengers and the taxpayer". But the plan "should be a first step to completely integrating all of our railway into public ownership," he added.

source: BBC