Shadow Minister of State for Rail, Stephen Morgan MP, and Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, have today announced Labour’s thorough and detailed roadmap to establish Great British Railways and get Britain moving.
Labour will deliver a publicly owned railway that delivers for passengers, taxpayers and rail manufacturers. Labour’s plans would see existing private passenger rail contracts folded into the new body as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs.
Following Labour’s announcement, Shadow Rail Minister Stephen Morgan MP visited Alstom’s rail manufacturing plant in Derby to set out Labour’s plan for the future of rail in the East Midlands, by delivering an expanded Great British Railways headquartered in Derby.
Labour’s plans will commit to establishing Great British Railways as the ‘directing mind’, of its rail reform ambition, going above and beyond the Conservative’s own long-delayed proposals for rail reform.
The Conservatives have made repeated promises to Derby which they have failed to deliver on, including delivering long-delayed rail reforms and pledges to safeguard manufacturing jobs. Labour’s plans will put Derby at the heart of a rail renaissance.
Labour will end the dither and delay, and immediately fire the starting gun on reform by establishing an interim ‘shadow Great British Railways, before passing legislation to formally establish and expand the body.
Labour’s Great British Railways will be a new organisation, with a new culture dedicated single-mindedly to delivering for passengers and taxpayers. It will manage competing cross-network planning and operations requirements on a forward-looking basis.
Labour’s Shadow Rail Minister, Stephen Morgan MP, said:
“Britain was the country that created the railways, but this Conservative Government has pushed them to breaking point.
“Derby has a proud legacy of almost two centuries at the heart of Britain’s railways – Labour won’t let that be consigned to the history books.
“Labour will fix Britain’s broken rail system by delivering a publicly owned railway fit for the future, and which delivers for passengers, taxpayers and manufacturers. That reform will be driven by Derby and will deliver a bright future for rail in the city.”
