[Politics] Sir Keir Starmer’s route to Number 10

[Machiavelli]

Being train dense, how can you renationalise railways / passenger rail, rescue fares but not the rolling stock?

Note that Labour are not using the 'n' word, whereas commentators are.

 

[A1X]

Of course the easy way out of it over the medium / long term is to just use the new nationalised entity to buy it's own rolling stock, gradually phasing out the stock owned by the ROSCOs, although this would take a good 20-25 years to replace everything and the political cycle simply doesn't work that way

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

As I understand it, the railways are broadly split into 3 groups: operating companies, rolling stock leasing companies and track owners. The ToC’s lease from the other two to run the service. The government will take over the roll of the ToC.

A system that nobody involved has ever thought made the slightest sense.

 

[aolstudios]

They're really scared of her, aren't they?

Not sure they're specifically scared of her. Just that they've failed to nail anything on KS & she's next in line

 

[CheeseRolls]

Of course the easy way out of it over the medium / long term is to just use the new nationalised entity to buy it's own rolling stock, gradually phasing out the stock owned by the ROSCOs, although this would take a good 20-25 years to replace everything and the political cycle simply doesn't work that way

I am not sure this is either necessary or desirable.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Accountability will be via the Passenger Standards Authority. I don't imagine this will interest you in the slightest as you have had nothing negative to say about the way that our public services have been "regulated" over the past 14 years. Imagine having independent people scrutinising the railways and holding those running the services accountable.

Do you even use the trains?

Yes indeed, off to Brighton / Falmer pretty soon.

If you're convinced that this independent body will make a day-to-day difference then I look forward to the results.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Yes indeed, off to Brighton / Falmer pretty soon.

If you're convinced that this independent body will make a day-to-day difference then I look forward to the results.

No price increases and a simplification of ticketing would be a significant day-to-day improvement for the vast majority.

I doubt they can do anything which will stop your ill-informed sniping though.

PS I'm not sure convinced is the right word , but many are willing to let them have a try through.

 

[Is it PotG?]

No price increases and a simplification of ticketing would be a significant day-to-day improvement for the vast majority.

I doubt they can do anything which will stop your ill-informed sniping though.

Labour haven't ruled out a price increase though.

As with all policies and manifestos, the proof of the pudding and all that.....

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Labour haven't ruled out a price increase though.

As with all policies and manifestos, the proof of the pudding and all that.....

Pressed again, she said: “We have absolutely no plans to make them more expensive”.

You can interpret this how you choose. I know how I interpret it.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Pressed again, she said: “We have absolutely no plans to make them more expensive”.

You can interpret this how you choose. I know how I interpret it.

Ok, we'll see.

Well Mr Lynch is all for it, so can't be all bad.

SNP transport spokesman Gavin Newlands said: “This is just the latest in a long list of U-turns from Sir Keir Starmer, this time on his commitment to nationalise the railways.

“Instead of putting the national railway service in the hands of the people, as the SNP Scottish Government have done, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will instead increase private investment into another public service, just like their plans for the NHS.”

 

[clapham_gull]

SNP transport spokesman Gavin Newlands said: “This is just the latest in a long list of U-turns from Sir Keir Starmer, this time on his commitment to nationalise the railways.

“Instead of putting the national railway service in the hands of the people, as the SNP Scottish Government have done, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will instead increase private investment into another public service, just like their plans for the NHS.”

No one is listening though. Labour are being reported as re-nationalising the railways and the Government are now in the position of having to say re-nationalisation of the Railways is a bad idea.

That's a big punch in the last round that the Conservatives are going to struggle to come back from, especially as the vast majority of the electorate associate our bad railways with the Conservatives.

 

[Randy McNob]

Ok, we'll see.

Well Mr Lynch is all for it, so can't be all bad.

SNP transport spokesman Gavin Newlands said: “This is just the latest in a long list of U-turns from Sir Keir Starmer, this time on his commitment to nationalise the railways.

“Instead of putting the national railway service in the hands of the people, as the SNP Scottish Government have done, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will instead increase private investment into another public service, just like their plans for the NHS.”

I thought you'd be all for 'taking back control' ? We're taking back control of the railways

What if they got a posh speaking bloke to say it? would that tantalise you ?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

No one is listening though. Labour are being reported as re-nationalising the railways and the Government are now in the position of having to say re-nationalisation of the Railways is a bad idea.

That's a big punch in the last round that the Conservatives are going to struggle to come back from, especially as the vast majority of the electorate associate our bad railways with the Conservatives.

And what happened when Connex South East, Or South Eastern or whatever bollocks it called itself down here in North Kent took all the Covid money and then fled back to France? The Tories renationalized it. Because when a public service in private hands fails it has to be nationalized.

This is why the railways were nationalized in the first place. It doesn't work as a load of private companies competing with one another or, worse, operating local monopolies. This is a classic example of the Tories pursuing dogma for its own sake. Who benefitted from the privatization? The shareholders for a bit owing to the 'sell low' rubric. Once there is no way of squeezing any more profit out of it, the franchisees just toddle off with their pockets full. And a few thousand Daily Mail readers wonder why their share portfolio is underperforming. And people still say John Major was a decent bloke. He was a dirty little shagger with his eye on he main chance.

 

[Rdodge30]

It still feels like the media team at party headquarters are a bit chaotic and disorganised… as if all the players are a bit uncoordinated rather than a well oiled machine.

Yesterday, Shadow Home Secretary spoke to the press, after FOI revealed that all the different police forces in the country are paying wildly different prices for equipment/vehicles etc …. and I mean astonishing differences … She intends to centralise all purchasing nationally and use savings to fund 13,000 more coppers on the beat.

*This alone could have been a brilliant news day for Labour*

Yesterday, there was the announcement of the intention to re acquire the rail companies as the private contracts expire.. not sure who announced it- Shadow Transport Secretary?

Yesterday, Shadow Home Secretary said that, “Not one single migrant will be sent to Rwanda under a Labour Government.”

*Also a very big statement on a very topical subject *

Yesterday, Shadow Chancellor announced that A Labour Government will work more closely with business than any previous Government, specifically by developing £22Billion of private investments into green technologies by guaranteeing sales of those newly developed green technologies.

Seemed predictable that most of that would get buried under the railways announcement.


However, after months of waiting for some meat on the bones of the 5pledges, I am pleased to see plenty of policy development.

 

[Nobby]

Yes indeed, off to Brighton / Falmer pretty soon.

If you're convinced that this independent body will make a day-to-day difference then I look forward to the results.

Well there will half a billion quid less going off to France and Germany and less strikes

Whether it will be cheaper for customers, who knows, but at least there will be more to invest and the service will actually run more than it does now

 

[Cotton Socks]

Being train dense, how can you renationalise railways / passenger rail, rescue fares but not the rolling stock?

The government would just continue leasing the rolling stock from the companies that the TOC's lease from.

 

[Cotton Socks]

What happens with Network Rail within all of this? NR is a public sector body that receives grants to maintain the infrastructure, the TOC's then pay to use sections. Any profit that NR make goes back into NR for further improvements. Are the government going to rent something they're already paying for? Can they negotiate a cheaper rate to rent the infrastructure they're already paying for or is it going to be a case of "we'll upgrade that bit of track next year, as we haven't got the cash at the mo". I'm all for not renewing contracts the whole rail network is a mess with lots of companies using the same bit of track and charging different ticket prices to go to the same place.

A one day travelcard Brighton - Victoria inc, tubes etc in London off peak, is about £25. If you book via Trainline, it doesn't tell you what times 'off peak' is, unless you look really closely at the ticket when you collect it at the station, you don't realise it's not valid on Thameslink or Gatwick Express. You just look at the board, see there's a train coming in 5 mins that goes to Vic and get on it. My Dad didn't know what I was talking about when I said check which trains the ticket is valid for when it prints out at the ticket machine, so didn't, got on the Gatwick Express and then had to pay again. I obviously got the blame for all of this as he's lazy so pretends he's doesn't understand tech. Managed to work out Betfair though quite quickly and it took me 30 mins to work out how to put my own bet on the national the other day. He's getting my 10, 50p e/w bets as usual next year!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Ok, we'll see.

Well Mr Lynch is all for it, so can't be all bad.

SNP transport spokesman Gavin Newlands said: “This is just the latest in a long list of U-turns from Sir Keir Starmer, this time on his commitment to nationalise the railways.

“Instead of putting the national railway service in the hands of the people, as the SNP Scottish Government have done, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party will instead increase private investment into another public service, just like their plans for the NHS.”

I don’t understand your quote about increasing private investment into the railways. Who said this? Can you explain what it means.

 

[Chicken Run]

Whilst i’m all for this don’t the Government run 60% of the rail companies already?

Edit that having looked it up it seems the Government are now the largest operator under the DfT OLR Holdings banner

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Whilst i’m all for this don’t the Government run 60% of the rail companies already?

Edit that having looked it up it seems the Government are now the largest operator under the DfT OLR Holdings banner

The simplification of tickets is the thing which interests me most; I guess they need near on 100% to be able to introduce this. All the while there’s random operators with access to any section of a route it wouldn’t be possible.