LABOUR MSPs condemned the “sickening sight” of the Scottish Nationalists and the Tories uniting today to prevent nationalisation of railways north of the border.
Scottish Labour reacted with anger after the Tories and the Scottish National Party (SNP) voted against their motion demanding that the SNP government strip Abellio of the ScotRail contract by 2022 and take the railways into public ownership.
More than 74,000 services have been cancelled since the Dutch firm took over the franchise in April 2015, an average of 47 per day.
The debate at Holyrood centred on Labour’s call for the Scottish government to commit to not renewing the contract and bringing the trains into public ownership.
Abellio UK attempted to sway the debate, with managing director Dominic Booth claiming that any change of franchise would result in “massive upheaval” and even greater “uncertainty” for workers and commuters.
However, Scottish Labour’s motion was solidly backed by rail unions Aslef, RMT and TSSA.
Aslef Scotland organiser Kevin Lindsay called on Holyrood to “stand up for Scotland” and “run our railway as a public service, not for private profit.”
His words were echoed by TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes, who urged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to “get a grip,” while RMT leader Mick Cash said Abellio is “not fit to run the franchise.”
Proposing the motion, Labour MSP Colin Smyth said: “It’s decision time for the Scottish government.
“It’s time for them to decide whether to reward failure by rewarding the Abellio ScotRail franchise until 2025 or — for once — to put passengers and rail workers first and end this failing franchise at the first notice.
“This Parliament has the opportunity to deliver change. Labour’s motion would mean the government serving notice to Abellio and bringing this franchise to an end in 2022, not extending it to 2025.
“Extending the franchise would reward failure and would send a signal to private rail operators – it doesn’t matter how poor your performance is, you will never be expected to live up to the agreements of your franchise.”
Moving an amendment which called for “Scottish public-sector control of the railways” – a motion which Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard branded a “distraction technique” – SNP MSP Michael Matheson conceded that the franchise “cannot continue as it is today.”
However, he characterised Labour’s commitment to public ownership as “waving a magic wand to solve the problems” of Scotland’s railways, claiming it “would not be in the Scottish taxpayer’s interest.”
A second amendent to Labour’s motion, tabled by Tory MSP Jamie Greene, said “that the operator should be given the contractual ability to fulfil its obligations in the remedial plan.”
Mr Greene said: “Pulling the rug from under the feet of the current operator would do more harm than good.
“What message does it send if you sign up and invest billions of pounds in a franchise, but the political whim changes and terminates your contract early?
“Anyone who knows anything about how rail franchises work is that it is in the last few years where you start to see the real fruit of your investment.”
Mr Greene also attacked Labour for backing the public ownership of the railways, saying: “This debate is about calling for nationalisation, but nowhere in the motion does it say so.”
Tory MSP Sir Edward Mountain added: “Continuing threats to end the franchise does not solve the problem.
“We all know that nationalisation doesn’t work, it has been tried before and failed.”
In his closing remarks, Mr Smyth told SNP members that they had “bottled it” and urged them not to “cry crocodile tears for Scotland’s railways” in the future.
In the end, all three votes fell and the motion was not carried.
Mr Leonard said: “It is disgraceful that the SNP are resorting to shameful distraction techniques to mask the fact they voted for the continuation of the failed privatised ScotRail franchise.
“In joining forces with the Tories to scupper our motion, the SNP will leave thousands of rail passengers in no doubt that they are in cahoots with the transport bosses fleecing us for a railway where almost 50 trains are cancelled every day.”
Labour MSP Neil Findlay told the Star: “The sight of the SNP and Tories teaming up to maintain Abellio’s disastrous stewardship of Scotland’s railways is sickening.
“We see trains late, overcrowded and fares increasing again.
“Passengers and staff are sick of Abellio – today we could have shown them the door, but a shabby alliance of the SNP and Tories have shafted passengers and staff who use and work on our railways.”
