Ecuador’s election wasn’t free — and its people will pay the price under President Noboa
Time to stop pricing people off our railways
On the eve of the TUC in Manchester, MICK WHELAN makes a plea for the Conservative government to show some common sense

THERE are some weird people around. Well, people with weird ideas. Take James Price of the extreme right-wing think tank the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
When the Labour Party called for a freeze in fares last month to help hard-pressed families, he said, quite frankly and quite brutally, that, as a hard-nosed free marketeer, he thinks it is absolutely right to try to price people off trains.
“It would be wrong to announce any kind of rail fares freeze, as it would hurt rail users, as well as taxpayers, who subsidise rail in the UK whether or not they use trains.
More from this author

Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN writes for the Morning Star on the eve of the TUC in Brighton, about the pay offer from the DfT, relations with the Labour government, and the union’s motion at Congress calling for the renationalisation of rail freight

MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ trade union, writes for the Morning Star as union activists prepare to march through Durham today in a display of working-class solidarity at the 138th Durham Miners’ Gala

MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ trade union Aslef, writes for the Morning Star as voters prepare to go to the polls in the general election today

MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, writes for the Morning Star on the eve of his union’s annual conference in Manchester from Monday 20 to Friday May 24