Britain’s railways will be renationalised within the first five years of a Labour government, the party will announce today.
Under new plans, one of Labour’s first major acts in government will bring all passenger rail into national ownership under Great British Railways, a new body, as contracts with private operators expire.
Labour also plans to use mobile phone apps to automate the existing delay repay scheme, which lets passengers claim refunds for rail journeys delayed by more than 15 minutes.
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Speaking to Sky News this morning, shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh vowed the reforms “will save the taxpayer potentially billions of pounds per year by the end of five years” and reduce “the massive waste and inefficiencies that currently exist across the system”.
“Frankly, the taxpayer can’t afford to continue with the system as it is, and neither can passengers”, she added.
In a speech on Thursday, Haigh will say nationalisation “is not going to be easy and it will take hard graft, but it will be my mission to get us to the right destination and to deliver for the Great British passenger”.
“It is passengers who pay the price, through being stranded because of cancellations, through being unable to work as they travel because there’s no internet, through overcrowded and unpleasant trains”, she will add.
Labour will also announce plans to cut waste and claw back shareholder dividends, saving £2.2 billion.
The Conservative rail minister Huw Merriman has criticised Labour’s plans as “pointless, unfunded rail nationalisation”.
Also commenting on the Labour announcement, James Cartlidge, a defence minister, told Sky News this morning: “Privatisation led to a doubling of the number of people using our railways. It has been a significant success story, huge investment from the private sector.
“But as I said, if that investment hadn’t come from the private sector it has to come from somewhere, and it would have to come ultimately from taxpayers.
“I think that is the key question about this policy: How much is it going to cost taxpayers? At the moment it is unfunded.”
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