As the National Policy Forum in Milton Keynes draws nearer, all eyes are on Labour’s policy formation process. Left Futures has discussed bringing back rail into public ownership before. But it is worth returning to the subject because it illustrates everything that is wrong about the way that our party currently makes policy. We know […]
Posts Tagged ‘Railways’
Why won’t Ed Balls nationalise the railways?
Jul 7th, 2014 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.If you were to glance at this headline, you might think Labour is tearing itself apart over rail renationalisation. It isn’t, but that the bulk of members and supporters think the rail should be taken back into public ownership reflects its popularity in the wider population. Pretty consistently, over half of the electorate would like to see this […]
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Public ownership: the solution to rail misery
May 4th, 2014 by Newsdesk.The following letter appeared in the Observer today calling for public ownership of the railways. It has been signed by 31 Labour candidates in target seats who represent a broad spectrum of political views across the party. We reproduce it in full here. Rail fares in Britain are contributing to the cost-of-living crisis, with season […]
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Living where privatised railways mean subsidising foreign state-run services
Feb 26th, 2014 by Dan McCurry.The railway that passes our constituency Labour party office in Bethnal Green and Bow is owned by Abellio, the Dutch state railway company. Am I alone in thinking this is somewhat surreal? We supposedly put these franchises out to tender because we wanted the private sector to provide their management know-how. It turns out that […]
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Talking Tosh on public ownership – the speech of the week
Sep 26th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.“Talking Tosh”, as Billy Hayes (moving the Communication Workers Union motion against privatising Royal Mail) said immediately after this outstanding speech, has acquired an entirely new meaning. Tosh McDonald, Vice-President of train drivers’ union ASLEF, received a much deserved standing ovation for an off-the-cuff contribution, seconding a motion in support of the public ownership of the […]
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The public wants rail, water, energy re-nationalised, and it needs doing
Sep 19th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The latest figures show that a season ticket, including tube travel, from Woking in Surrey to central London cost £3.268 last year. A similar 22-mile journey in Italy from Velletri to Rome cost just £336. In France the 24-mile journey from Ballancourt to Paris costs £924. The RMT argues that the vastly higher costs of […]
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Johann Lamont shows how to be a union-friendly leader
May 23rd, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Johann Lamont, the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, speaking to the annual conference of the train drivers’ union ASLEF in Edinburgh, delivered a clear message of support for trade union rights, trade union involvement in policy-making and policies that trade unions have been seeking. She said she didn’t – and no one should – […]
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Railways are too important to run on greed
Aug 21st, 2012 by James Bloodworth.In the novel Catch 22, one of the central characters is an entrepreneurial war profiteer by the name of Milo Minderbinder. Caught swindling his fellow countrymen, Milo likes to evoke the “historic right of free men to pay as much as they have to for the things they need in order to survive”. When Milo’s profiteering […]
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Rebuilding Rail: a blueprint for rail industry reform
Jul 26th, 2012 by Mick Whelan.The Rebuilding Rail report was commissioned by rail unions ASLEF, RMT, TSSA and UNITE in order to examine how a better structure for the railway could be created in order to deliver better value for taxpayers or passengers. It calls for a complete overhaul of our fragmented, franchised network, putting rail back into the hands […]
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Staff at Virgin Trains deserve respect
Jul 20th, 2012 by Manuel Cortes.This morning, talks between TSSA and Virgin Trains broke down after Virgin Trains refused to commit to observing their own procedures when addressing concerns regarding staff sickness, capability or discipline. Virgin Trains management, including Patrick McGrath, HR Director, read a pre-prepared statement and then left. The message that they gave us was:
