Privatised rail is broken beyond repair but ignore the Tory spin, this is not nationalisation - Andy McDonald

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, responding to the East Coast Rail announcement from the Government, said:

“Ignore the Tory spin, this is not nationalisation. Privatised rail is broken beyond repair yet the Tories are still handing these services back to the private sector because they are wedded to a broken free market ideology. 

“Private operators have failed three times in under a decade on the East Coast route, the last time resulting in a £2billion taxpayer bailout.

“The East Coast partnership announced is a smokescreen from a government which has run out of ideas on rail. Rather than continue to reward private sector failure, the next Labour government will take our railways back into public ownership.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• ·         In 2009, when the National Express East Coast franchise collapsed East Coast was a subsidiary of Directly Operated Railways - the Department for Transport’s operator of last resort, run by the Department on behalf of passengers. 

• ·         In November 2015 the Tory Government privatised the role of the Operator of last resort, meaning that should a franchise collapse the department would no longer run the service but it would be now be run by a consortium of three companies, Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin rail & Transit.

• ·         Therefore, the current Government’s proposals would not see the East Coast franchise being run in public hands but rather again under private control.