Labour Pledges to Nationalise the Rail Network: Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh

The Labour Party is pledging to nationalise the railways. They vow to bring rail networks back into public ownership within their first term in power, a plan that they say will prevent taxpayers from having to cover any compensation.
Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh joins GMB to explain how the new public body - Great British Railways - would be funded.
Broadcast on 25/04/24
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#GMB #nationalise #labourparty #greatbritishrailways

[@gavinsmith9564]

All natural monopolies, so water, gas and electricity, they all need to be nationalised, no more ripping off consumers for shareholder profits.

[@aethellstan]

totally agree

[@benhughes2563]

100%

[@diddleysquat6644]

Absolutely

[@Aloh-od3ef]

I don’t think nationalisation is the best option. As they usual don’t work out for the best. A non for profit company would be a better option. They are more flexible, can raise money from the private sector and any profit generated will go towards the infrastructure.

[@sheriffjbunnell2392]

​@Aloh-od3ef a non-profit company raising money in the private sector? How does that work without making a profit?

[@Harryjw67]

Actual good news. Let’s hope Labour actually stick to their promise this time around

[@shlegg61]

Agreed but I think any amount of luck or change is better than the Tory twoddle we've been fed for 14 years

[@OneTrueScotsman]

When pigs fly, Labour will do the right thing.

[@hchrist7793]

@@shlegg61 I await your views after 3 years of Loony Labour

[@pip1723]

Great news ...can't wait for labour to take office .

[@redbearduk]

@@hchrist7793how could they do any worse? Serious question.

[@siadali7673]

Absolutely fantastic news

[@Validifyed]

I worry the government doesn't have enough money for a move like this. But a nationalized rail, and especially bringing ticket costs back into the realm of sanity, would be a massive boost for the whole economy.

[@wendywolfman]

*nationalised

[@christradgett-affiliates]

It works out cheaper than subsiudising the failing operating companies - who send profits back to Germany, Belgium and Spain

[@lcg8220]

Yeah, I live in Japan and (comparatively) cheaper ticket prices and significantly better service/punctuality/regularity makes travelling to other cities so easy that I can not only live further away from without worrying about cancellations and excessively expensive ticket prices, but also travel more for weekend holidays and day trips, which helps the economy of areas that wouldn't necessarily see nearly as much foot traffic otherwise. (Not to mention vehicle traffic is way lower)

[@WhichDoctor1]

the government already subsidises the private rail companies more than they use to give to British Rail. Privatisation for monopoly services is incredibly inefficient. We can spend the same money we do now and get a better service if it is nationalised

[@nickb1211]

They plan to get around some of the cost by waiting for the contracts to expire rather than buying out the contracts I believe.

[@samueleveleigh2767]

if it is essential for the country to function it needs to be nationalized. simple as that. you can have private companies for sure but there always needs to be that baseline to maintain standards

[@bereal6590]

Excellent, the shadow minister is absolutely correct 👏👏👏✊

[@GromDarkwater]

So the people claiming it will be a bad idea are those who will lose the most. They are totally not bias

[@DilanPerera1]

One more good reason to vote for Labour! We must renationalise other public services such as electricity and water too... Tories will never do this!

[@ThatSpecificIndividual]

Hopefully this will make rail actually affordable because private ownership clearly doesn't.

[@bakersmileyface]

Most of the problems the rail network is facing are a consequence of the government anyway. I don't think nationalising it will change anything any time soon. Labour says they're going to claw back the dividends of shareholders, gaining £2.2 billion. But where that £2.2 billion will go afterwards is left to our imagination and my imagination tells me it will result in politicians getting a payrise while we suffer.

[@chelseaboyijm]

Nationalisation is a good policy for more sectors.

[@chat4783]

As a Regular Train travellers,the people object the Nationalisation don't understands that our train ticket is more expensive than Switzerland rail price or average restaurants in Switzerland.

[@michaelfourie345]

Funny...I thought that was a Jeremy Corbyn pledge.

[@Kate-lk6tw]

Indeed.

[@ricardothorburn4089]

It was

[@TarlachOakleaf]

Did anyone mention the water companies? The rest I'm not too concerned about, but rail and water have to be fixed.

[@C4mrin]

Water and Rail is publicly owned in Scotland - Water quality is good compared with rUK - Rail needs more time to stabilise after poor privatisation - so we are talking England here

[@hchrist7793]

Water quality is excellent here too

[@spaghettojesusinc]

rail is nationalised in scotland and wales too

[@AK_UK_]

Prices to take the train from one city to another is just horrendous!

[@Neil-qf6df]

Good....hopefully prices for users will drop to a reasonable amount. Next should be water, gas and electricity.

[@jujutrini8412]

👍🤞🏼

[@indibhart5731]

Great news!!!

[@cultivationape6946]

Finally

[@76Rubes]

That would be great!

[@frankbagshaw6886]

I remember the nationised water cos, no pressure from government to fix leaks and stand-pipes in the streets when there was a water shortage.

[@creasicle]

Crazy. It's almost as if when you allow profit-making companies into a marketplace where consumers have literally no choice but to consume their product, that the companies rip them off charging unjustifiably high prices while providing a service that can only be described as inadequate. Shareholders make loads of money while their bosses lobby MPs trying to persuade them that actually they're doing a fab job and could be charging way more but they're super nice guys really and just want to help out. It's almost as if unregulated capitalism is LITERALLY ALWAYS nothing more than shameless profiteering which puts companies and shareholders before ordinary people.

[@billyfisher1539]

That’s not quite accurate… Profits are under 2% of total revenue. The reasons rail fares are so high are far lower taxpayer subsidies than other countries and unionisation inflating salaries of low to medium-skilled labour (predominantly drivers). What is ridiculous is that privatisation is supposed to mean increase competition and efficiency, and decrease risk for the taxpayer. I agree nationalisation will help though as long as the Government cripples ASLEF and rules it with an iron fist.

[@jackspring7709]

Changing the operator of the trains while leaving the ownership of rolling stock in private hands will achieve very little - Labour are leaving the most profitable part of rail to private companies. Its not nationalisation.

[@pipins3616]

Anybody remember the name British rail had for their service

[@s-zu4ni]

we already have publicly owned railways, LNER is one - no drivers, no staff - although are a great rail provider, but way, way too expensive.

[@lazrseagull54]

Buses too then please. Or perhaps just the ticket system in general. It's really annoying how so many British towns require you to buy seperate tickets for bus and rail, with the daily, weekly and monthly tickets, as well as student, elderly and disabled passes only being valid on buses.

[@christradgett-affiliates]

brilliant news!!! several of the most efficient lines (like LNER) are already in public ownership

[@Sharpe2007Dent]

No Richard, most of us don't have a choice but to use the trains and the prices are taking every penny not spent on our extortionate housing. I essentially can't afford to have kids. So yes, nationalisation is the only way to lower prices

[@cup1966wow]

Do you really truly believe they would lower the ticket prices? Maybe they wont raise them as fast but they have no incentive to lower them. Especially as they will need to make back the money they use to nationalise it.

[@Sharpe2007Dent]

Ok let's keep things as they are then, I can't wait to not afford the commute to work any more and lose my job and everything else. Cheers.

[@cup1966wow]

@@Sharpe2007Dent But you still think government is going to lower the cost? Yes ticket prices are too expensive. But do you know what the average profit is per passenger? 12p. I have no idea how trains are so expensive to run. But there's virtually no chance the government will actually lower ticket prices. I wouldn't be surprised if they go up in fact.

[@user-kf8wg6lb1p]

Going around in circles

[@malcky630]

What the [f] is micro management from the center????😄

[@iankp5901]

Exactly what it says

[@johnwadsworth5552]

Run like clockwork until the first round of pay talks then strike or cost double what it does and a decline in standards and of course a highrer pension increase . Can never forget seeing 18 (eighteen) people to latch on a restaurant car when british rail ran the system and then setting off finding there was no food in the restaurant car.

[@AreJayCee]

Needs to happen with the buses, too. Stagecoachs service in Fife is utterly deplorable

[@lazrseagull54]

Exactly! It would also be nice if we didn't have to buy seperate tickets for bus and rail. In German cities, a single journey is valid on bus, tram, underground and local/regional trains for 90mins - 2hrs as long as you don't go back on yourself. Daily, weekly and monthly tickets are also valid on all those modes. Students and elderly people get a "transport pass", not a "bus pass".

[@AreJayCee]

@@lazrseagull54 Stagecoach up here stopped return tickets and force you to pay nearly £8 for a dayrider when the equivalent return fare was £5.50. A rip off merchant if I've ever seen one.

[@juliantaylor2223]

About time

[@Kate-lk6tw]

Well, Corbyn did adopt this. So, it wasn’t long ago. Then Keir abandoned it so as to not look like Corbyn?.

[@user-qe8ej9sk6w]

They want to hurry up

[@maxwheeler4865]

So the government already set the ticket prices, and has to top it up with subsidies, so how will the Labour government make it work….

[@leonardireland7362]

Why didn't they do it when they were in power last time with Blair,what a load of bull, some operators licence doesn't run out till 2030

[@frankkirk3162]

Still not going make them cheaper that's reasons people don't use them as much

[@maydate86]

And when is the u turn coming like other promises

[@TerrierTom88]

How is it going to be funded? My very simplified answer would essentially be, 1) letting the contracts lapse (no fees to buy out then) 2) Fares on the trains would fund a portion (if not a majority) of the cost. Also important to remember they don't need to be run then for a profit in the traditional sense.

[@Kate-lk6tw]

How was it funded for all the decades it was publicly owned?

[@Theother1089]

So they'll run at a loss to three tax payers.

[@maxwheeler4865]

Where is the Labour government expertise coming from to run this??

[@cjmillsnun]

It's actually a genius plan. All the private companies are under "management contract" anyway hence they are effectively operating under government instruction. It is these that Labour are looking to nationalise by letting the contracts expire and not renewing them. The only exceptions are the three open access operators that operate with no government money at all, the freight operators and the charter operators. They could all stay as they are.

[@ReefOoze]

about time

[@lawrencewilson4826]

I loved Richard’s slip of the tongue - ‘the Labour Government’ 😂

[@malcky630]

First thing the unions will do is ask for more £s

[@anarchodandyist]

There are many examples of nationalised rail working in many countries. Anyone who thinks privatised rail that is all about profit and shareholders is a cnt!

[@davidhodgson3901]

Spot-on by Louise Haigh.

[@Sharpe2007Dent]

Can they also cap the rich buying all the homes, and make them affordable plz

[@DarrenJamiesonJamieson]

This s how much brains The Media have: Back in public ownership. Public (as in re-public, trended in 1960s), ownership is privatisation.

[@Lionboy2930]

So when your union paymasters want 20% pay rises... will you give it them!!

[@malcky630]

Exactly.

[@rick11960]

Very emotive and exaggerated comment on British Rail Catering. *Prue Leith was on the Board and worked tirelessly to improve the food offering especially sandwiches *Among the famous trains in that period [1964-1967] were three Pullmans out of Euston and St Pancras and the Brighton Belle [Victoria].Each had two chef's . *I worked on the LMR and other classic trains were the Palatine Express,The Emerald Isle Express ,The Red Rose and Thames-Clyde Express.out of St Pancras. That bar in St Pancras was pretty awful. Les Dawson frequently mentioned his Mother,,who was a sandwich reviver at Crewe........

[@mantistoboggan1503]

While this is a good thing, it's the second time they've U-turned on this one policy

[@JohnnyZenith]

If they don't build HS2 to Manchester and Leeds it's all a nonsense.

[@Kate-lk6tw]

No, it’s the first time they’ve pinched it from Corbyn but pretended it was Starmer’s idea.

[@marcuscannon6118]

On being asked about the unions - 'well look the the unions are already behaving in a way as if they work in a nationalized uh and publicly owned workplace.....' so Labour want to nationalise and expect wide spread, on-going industrial action due to this? Unusual to hear an open and honest answer from a politician.

[@repentmaster2842]

Nationalize public utilities is doing good for the public (save British from being ripped off by shareholders). That's where Labour can do better than the Cons

[@ricardothorburn4089]

Jeremy Corbyn - "I told you so"

[@barneypaws4883]

Nationalisation would happen by not renewing contracts with the private rail companies instead of paying out to shareholders

[@cleolector710]

More inportant the NHS Needs to be saved

[@mathewgrover6455]

There won't be any rail network left.

[@user-wx1wz4ju8q]

Good news.Down the line much easier to transfer to greener energy

[@Theother1089]

More strikes, more money down the drain and less investment, rail better now then nationalised days, no doubt the young want this, who don't remember how bad things were.

[@85ABC]

A pointless policy. As if that's the most important thing to do. It won't save money. I predict they'll spend more

[@grahamboffey457]

Finally, a thing I can get behind Starver for.

[@DarrenJamiesonJamieson]

Yeah, but whatever will you do without: See it, report it, we'll f..k it?

[@RandomOpinion1]

Just compare our travel costs to other EU countries, then see which ones are private or not..

[@malcky630]

Do you mean which ones are subsidised or not, someone has to pay.

[@johnchristmas7522]

My AOP pension tax to pay for it. The most important social service that should be nationalised and thats the water companies, who in the last ten years paid their shareholders(Tories) £57 billion

[@davidhodgson3901]

Labour’s approach to water is correct. Changing the law so that the directors of the water companies are forced to act in the interests of their customers instead of purely their shareholders is long overdue. Some of the companies will fail and then the state can pick them up.

[@jujutrini8412]

You might be right. I have been saying for the longest while that water should never be privatised as it is a natural monopoly. There’s no competition so how can capitalist principles work in regards the water industry? I always thought it should be in the ownership of the people of the land , as it stands it is absolutely ridiculous that private corporations can act in a way as to literally harm the people of the nation by putting chemicals and sewage in our rivers and waterways with very little punishment or incentive not to do so! The aim should absolutely be to get it back into the public’s hands but to allow the water companies to fail first.

[@davidhodgson3901]

@@jujutrini8412 exactly. It was sold off to enrich friends of the Conservative Party. When we left the EU, the corruption ramped up.

[@ebillyboi]

The Government spent £16.9 billion on the rail industry in 2020/21The ORR says the rail industry has started to recover from the effects of the pandemic,

[@ebutuoyYT]

Richard must be taking Judy’s menopause pills, because the geezer is talking absolute tripe, as usual. British Rail in the 90s was making major improvements to their service, even though they ironically had less subsidy than today’s private rail operators.

[@Jaxblaze]

They want more than inflation! They get over 3x the national average wage at the start of their career. We deserve a better service for what we pay in both ticket fees and taxes. The wages need to come down to 20% above the national average, this way they can employ more staff. This then fixes the quality of life and overtime issues the staff keep complaining about, but instead of being smart and taking a cut to get more workers. They take a wage increase and cry that nothing has changed. The rail unions are a joke. They say that the government won't talk in negotiations at the same time as saying "this won't end until we get everything we want." What's to negotiate there?

[@michaeljohndennis2231]

If under Labour or the Tories, re-nationalising the U.K. Railways will be a disaster - the only solution to the broken U.K. railways is to give complete and direct control of the U.K. railways to an external body such as Japan, Taiwan or the CCP’s rail companies with U.K. laws passed that stop all interference, including strike actions from U.K. trade unions and abolish all other U.K. rail bodies like the ORR and Network Rail - that way, standards would go up, fares would come down, rail projects such as HS2 would be completed in half the time and for half the costs, old railways could be repopened and new lines could get built

[@HXT_916]

That female presenter isn’t even trying to hide her Toryness. Renationalise everything that is classed as essential.

[@pipins3616]

What’s wrong with backing your side

[@efinel]

This needs to happen. If it costs a bit now, it will be recouped. Better value long term. What does need to happen is to stop the tories re-privatising them again when they eventually get in power. The memory od BR is tainted by cronic indefunding through the 80s, culminating in it being sold off at a knock down price. Prior to thatcher, when funded properly, BR worked really quite well. So no, richard, your staement that previous generations thought it was terrible is incorrect. We just need to make sure right wing govs. Dont get power back

[@OneTrueScotsman]

Narrorator: They changed their mind the following week, after taking bribes from businessmen.

[@jedimasterbazz]

Richard, I'm pretty sure health & safety, food, and customer service standards have improved a lot in 40 years

[@britnatzaredemocracydenier5922]

Joke of the day 😂😂

[@malcky630]

Where?

[@krob2327]

Louise is very dangerous. She can’t handle criticism of British rail even though everyone hated it. She’s deeply unbalanced

[@nevertoolate5325]

Fully approve of this fairly common sense policy (far from any Tory Policy of course!!!) But as most people don't use trains, a greater impact (in benefiting society) would be prioritising nationalsation of energy, water, dentists & properly renationalising health. All Corbyn policies of course, but at the time the English wanted Boris and Brexit, being as its a nation of f*ckwits. Hopefully what is 14 years of nothing but pain for even the middle and upper classes now might finally result in a little sensible voting behaviour. Voting tactically myself (which is Labour where I am) as just getting the Tories out is a first step towards sanity & a decently managed country. 🙄

[@ablamill8357]

It's a joke haha - regulation and taxation is much cheaper. Focus on more important things.

[@DeanUK_]

Our country needs saving from this Conservative government. 0 Seats hopefully

[@songscoops4205]

The NHS is an example of nationalisation.....never enough money...

[@yusufbozat4666]

🎉🎉🎉well done 👍 labour you have my vote 🗳️ nationalise bus service too please 🙏

[@rosjackson]

Louise Haigh made an announcement about buses recently. It includes bus franchising powers and also making it easier for local authorities to run services.

[@pipins3616]

Get to the bus stop early

[@roygregory1250]

The government subsidise the railway, and the share holders get the subsidy. The sooner they privitise the better. And all utilities.

[@SimonSmith-yd6tt]

don't you mean Nationalise they're already Privatised

[@samueleveleigh2767]

@@SimonSmith-yd6tt russia bots dont know how to talk good

[@TheDataman2]

Good Morning Britain barely attempting to hide its conservative party support there

[@speedboostr]

Honestly think this woman doesn’t have clue.

[@ablamill8357]

Right

[@Sidb26]

Starmer has to have a better way of shipping migrants all over the country, what better way than using the trains

[@DilanPerera1]

No need for trains! Our Fishi Sunak is using planes to ship them to Rwanda by spending 1.8 million public funds per migrant...

[@MrModerate_kane]

nationalise? great where will all this money come from? Another rabbit out of the magic hat?

[@kilokahn_x3850]

Well almost 100% of the profits goes to shareholders and overseas - so it would be re distributed

[@iankp5901]

If you listened they are going to wait for the contracts to expire and simply not renew them

[@ryanhastie232]

She literally answered that question for you less than 2 minutes in

[@murphyandmurphybrand]

Richard is a joke. Talking about rail in 60’s. Time have moved on mate. Just go visit another country. Tories selling off our services to private companies who only care about stakeholder dividends without any competition is the problem.

[@m.bowyer5045]

Yawn.

[@geosmith3436]

Well the Tories were never going to do anything like everything else they do nothing about.

[@kenninty]

Too late. Still voting Green. Right wing Labour will never get my vote again.

[@britnatzaredemocracydenier5922]

Snp did it ages ago

[@user-ei3dq2dw6i]

What about cutting income tax from 20% to 10% we pay enough into the economy and help people thru this difficult time

[@davidharle952]

Common sense at last.

[@misfit2022]

Wouldn’t more competition, which creates jobs and opportunities, rather than less be better for consumers’ pockets? 😉

[@samfromuk796]

Nationalisation isn't the answer. Just look at how the NHS is run. Customer service is awful. So many different systems, the NHS app could be way better. We need people in management to be passionate about their jobs so they can drive the changes needed.

[@E172Essex1]

But it was a shocking service run to the whims of multiple unions. Labour are unelectable.

[@spacemonkey200]

Don't worry everyone... It will be cancelled.👍😂

[@naemieaad5456]

I don't want to pay towards train I don't even use them.....

[@MisterArse]

You already do

[@rosjackson]

Unless you live in a Beechings cut area, you benefit from cleaner air and lower road traffic due to trains.

[@ryanhastie232]

Firstly, you already do, as she covered in the first few minutes. Secondly, making train travel more accessible means less pollution meaning better environment for you. Finally, the way a community works is not just to think about yourself but for the whole community. So even if you don't use trains right now, you and your entire community will benefit enormously

[@lestrem11]

No they aren’t, just centralising ticketing. How thick are you toss pots…..

[@IanCarson-tc2os]

Going back to the old days again. Nationalised industries run more then than NOW BYTHE UNIONS/ more strikes

[@michaelfourie345]

...because privatization solved the problem didn't it.

[@IanCarson-tc2os]

@@michaelfourie345 DID IT!!!

[@michaelfourie345]

@@IanCarson-tc2os ....that was sarcasm.

[@amxst1819]

Richard the absolute Tory weapon complaining about sandwiches 40 years ago when passengers are being ripped off now

[@SimonSmith-yd6tt]

bottles of wine also come to mind?😆😆🤣