If LABOUR wins the next general election, it has declared it will renationalize the railways.
Rail will be returned to the public after the current contracts with operators expire, according to Louise Haigh, a transport spokesman, who spoke at the conference yesterday.
Due to shortened train schedules and other major disruptions, many delegates had difficulty getting to the conference in Liverpool, so she told the attendees that private rail companies should no longer be permitted to offer a subpar service.
After months of ambiguity and divergent rhetoric from the Shadow Cabinet, Labour’s nationalization policy has finally been confirmed.
British railways have turned into a money-making machine for businesses and foreign governments, Miss Haigh said at the conference.
Things must change because this cannot continue. And the government, led by Labour, will ensure that they do.
Mick Lynch, the head of the RMT, stated yesterday that the union would “welcome” the change to public ownership.
Despite Sir Keir Starmer including the policy in his manifesto when running for the party’s leadership, the Labour leadership appeared to make several U-turns this summer on nationalization.
Renationalization is no longer acceptable under Labour’s “fiscal rules,” according to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who stated this in July.
Sir Keir initially supported her, stating that he would reject a “ideological” stance in favor of a “pragmatic” approach to the matter.
The foundational policy of the 2019 manifesto was nationalization, which the current leadership has attempted to distance itself from.
Sir Keir responded, when asked if he had reneged on his leadership oath, “On the specifics of nationalization, I’m pragmatic, not ideological.”
I do not believe that an ideological response is the appropriate one in the wake of the pandemic.
Rail likely differs from the other modes of transportation because so much of our rail is already owned by the government. That is what I mean when I say that I don’t have an opinion.
At the time, Miss Haigh was compelled to publish a statement on social media outlining the party’s support for public ownership.
But during conference, the party seemed to agree on a more defined position, as suggested by Miss Haigh, who said a Labour administration would put an end to “this farce” of privatized rail.
Tan Dhesi, the party’s rail minister, had earlier made a suggestion of the change when he declared that nationalization had been Labour policy ever since he assumed his position in 2020 at a fringe event sponsored by the militant RMT union.
“We welcome the Labour Party’s commitment to public ownership of the railways,” RMT leader Mick Lynch said on Monday.
The next Labour administration should make eliminating the greed and inefficiency of the private sector in our railways and other public services a top priority.