Labour pledges first steps to public railway

LABOUR has pledged a railway revival, announcing plans yesterday to bring most of the privatised industry back into public hands.
In proposals broadly welcomed by unions and campaigners, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh confirmed that train franchises will be taken into the public sector as and when contracts expire if the party wins the next general election.
This will mean the whole network will join infrastructure owner Network Rail in a publicly-run system within the first term of a Labour government.
More from this author

ANDREW MURRAY wonders whether recent opinion polling and a fresh local authority by-election result in Ilford are an indication that the time is ripe for the left to make inroads

Labour accused of ‘balancing the books off the backs of the poor’ in spring spending statement