Nationalisation of train operators ‘tackling deep-rooted problems'
The Cabinet minister made the claim ahead of c2c becoming the second operator to be nationalised by the Labour Government on Sunday.
The operator, which runs services between London Fenchurch Street and south Essex, has been owned by Italy's state-owned rail company Trenitalia since 2017.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said c2c is 'consistently rated one of the best performing operators in the country'.
It achieved a passenger satisfaction rating for the overall journey of 89% in the most recent research by watchdog Transport Focus.
This was the joint sixth best performance out of 22 operators.
Ms Alexander said: 'Whether you're shopping in Lakeside or walking along the beach in Southend-on-Sea, from this Sunday you will be able to get there on a train service run by the public, for the public.
'Public ownership is already tackling deep-rooted problems we see on the railway that's led to spiralling costs, fragmentation and waste.'
Customers of a nationalised train company can use their tickets on another publicly-owned operator at no extra cost during disruption.
Ms Alexander added: 'A unified network under Great British Railways (GBR) will take this further with one railway under one brand with one mission – delivering excellent services for passengers wherever they travel.'
GBR is an upcoming public sector body that will oversee Britain's rail infrastructure and train operation.
Nationalised services are currently the responsibility of DfT Operator.
South Western Railway became the first operator brought into public ownership by the Labour Government in May.
It joined Northern, TransPennine Express, Southeastern and LNER, which were nationalised under the Conservative government because of performance failings by the former owners of those franchises.
Rob Mullen, managing director of c2c, said: 'We are proud of the reliable and high level of service we offer our passengers, consistently being rated as one of the best performing operators in the country.
'We now have a golden opportunity to collaborate with the wider family of publicly-owned operators, sharing our successes and best practice, but also learning from a wide range of different and diverse operators who have already benefited from public ownership, to drive even more improvements for the people and places we all serve.
'A unified and focused railway can deliver more for our communities, including better growth, jobs and houses.'
Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, welcomed the nationalisation of c2c but expressed frustration that staff cleaning its trains and stations will still be employed by private company Bidvest Noonan.
He said: 'The injustice of outsourcing must end so all railway workers can reap the benefits of public ownership and greedy private contractors can no longer extract obscene profits from the industry.
'Our members working for Bidvest Noonan deserve decent pay and the same terms and conditions as their colleagues, and we will fight tooth and nail to achieve it.'
Paul Nowak, general secretary of trade union body the TUC, said: 'We need a fully integrated national rail service that works for passengers and the rail workforce.
'That means tackling outsourcing in the sector.'
The next operator to be nationalised will be Greater Anglia on October 12.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Newsweek
4 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Epstein Birthday Book Could Be Released 'Immediately'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A book containing birthday messages from associates of Jeffrey Epstein could be obtained by lawmakers with little delay, an attorney for several of his victims has said. Bradley Edwards told MSNBC on Wednesday a commemorative book to mark the disgraced financier's 50th birthday in 2003 was in the possession of Epstein's estate, and that the law firms holding it would comply with a congressional subpoena to obtain it. President Donald Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal last week after the newspaper reported that a sexually suggestive note in the birthday book featured Trump's signature. Trump has strenuously denied the report, and on Thursday his attorney's team referred Newsweek to a July 18 Truth Social post in which the president denounced it as "false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS." The Department of Justice said it had no comment on the issue, while attorneys for the Journal's publisher Dow Jones and the Florida-based law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, which has been managing Epstein's estate, have been emailed for comment. Why It Matters The reporting of the birthday book complicated the president's efforts to distance himself from Epstein. The convicted child sex offender died in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019, but his relationships with powerful individuals continue to generate legal and political fallout. Access to the book and what it contains would be a major development in Trump's lawsuit against the Journal. It could also provide information about who Epstein's associates were - though any involvement would not be evidence of wrongdoing. What To Know Edwards told MSNBC that the book made for Epstein's birthday was currently held by his estate. "Congress could issue a subpoena to their attorneys at Patterson or at Troutman — those are the two law firms," he said. "I know those attorneys, they would turn the book over immediately. Nobody would have to guess, there wouldn't need to be a lawsuit." Now-President Donald Trump and his future wife Melania, financier (and future convicted sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000. Now-President Donald Trump and his future wife Melania, financier (and future convicted sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, has previously represented Epstein's estate. Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, told MSNBC that the revelation by Edwards was a "bombshell." "We can easily move forward on this subpoena of that birthday book, which could really advance this case," Khanna said. Epstein and Trump, who have been photographed together, fell out in 2004, according to the president. Epstein was arrested in July 2006 after a grand jury indicted him on a single count of soliciting prostitution. In 2008, he avoided more severe federal charges by pleading guilty to state charges of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and served 13 months. He was again arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, and was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month later. What People Are Saying President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on July 18: "We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS 'article' in the useless 'rag' that is, The Wall Street Journal." Representative Ro Khanna told MSNBC: "That's a hard thing to do, to get the Department of Justice to cooperate in releasing [the Epstein] files. What's not hard to do is to subpoena private attorneys and a private estate and to get compliance." What Happens Next Khanna said he intended to invite Edwards to meet with the House Oversight Committee, with plans to move forward with a subpoena to obtain the book from Epstein's estate.
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jailed traders mount bid to quash conviction after Supreme Court ruling
Four traders who were jailed for rate-rigging are to appeal their convictions after the Supreme Court quashed similar charges in a landmark case. Jay Merchant, Jonathan Mathew, Philippe Moryoussef and Christian Bittar are all seeking acquittal on appeal, lawyers for the four men said. It follows the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, two former investment bank traders, on charges of rigging Libor and Euribor respectively. The pair were found to have not received a fair trial because of how the jury was directed. The convictions came after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the aftermath of the financial crisis into claims that traders were manipulating key interest rate benchmarks by submitting false information to the market. Overall, the case led to nine convictions for fraud, with two traders pleading guilty and the rest found guilty by juries. Merchant and Mathew were ex-Barclays traders found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in 2016 after a three-month trial at Southwark Crown Court. The judge ruled that the pair had conspired to manipulate the London interbank offered rate, known as Libor, which was once used to price more than £270tn of financial products globally. Mathew was given a four-year sentence, while Merchant was given a six and a half years. Merchant, who was born in India, renounced his British citizenship and was deported in 2018. Moryoussef, also an ex-Barclays trader, and Christian Bittar, who formerly worked for Deutsche Bank, were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud in relation to the euro interbank offered rate, known in the City as Euribor. Moryoussef was sentenced in 2018 to eight years in jail, with the judge saying: 'Greed was clearly his principal motivation. Although his income was more than generous by anyone's standards, he thought he deserved more.' Bittar was sentenced to five years and four months. On Thursday night, a lawyer representing the group said: 'Following the Supreme Court's landmark decision yesterday to quash the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, all four of our clients now intend to appeal against their convictions.' Mr Hayes, who served five and a half years in prison for fraud, said after the Supreme Court ruling that all those jailed on similar charges to his should have their convictions overturned. The SFO, which was contacted for comment, said earlier this week: 'We have considered this judgment and the full circumstances carefully and determined it would not be in the public interest for us to seek a retrial.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.


The Hill
33 minutes ago
- The Hill
Labour ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn says he's starting a new left-wing UK party
LONDON (AP) — Labour Party ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn said Thursday that he's forming a new left-leaning U.K. political party to advocate 'mass redistribution of wealth and power' and take on his former colleagues at the ballot box. The new formation has a website — — but doesn't have a name yet. 'It's your party,' Corbyn said. 'We're going to decide (a name) when we've had all the responses, and so far the response rate has been massive.' Corbyn said that he hoped the new party would have its inaugural conference in the fall. Corbyn, 76, led Labour to election defeats in 2017 and 2019, but the veteran socialist campaigner remains popular with many grassroots supporters. and the new party has the potential to further fragment British politics. The long-dominant Labour and Conservative parties now have challengers on both left and right, including the environmentalist Green Party and hard-right Reform UK. Plans for a new party emerged earlier this month when lawmaker Zarah Sultana, who has been suspended from Labour for voting against the government, said that she would 'co-lead the founding of a new party' with Corbyn. At the time, Corbyn didn't confirm the news. On Thursday, he denied the party launch had been messy, saying the process was 'democratic, it's grassroots and it's open.' A longtime supporter of Palestinians and a critic of Israel, Corbyn was suspended from Labour in 2020 after Britain's equalities watchdog found anti-Jewish prejudice had been allowed to spread within Labour while he was leader. He was suspended after failing to fully accept the findings¸ claiming opponents had exaggerated the scale of antisemitism in Labour for 'political reasons.' Corbyn was reelected to Parliament last year as an independent. Prime Minister Keir Starmer succeeded Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020 and dragged the party back toward the political center ground. He dropped Corbyn's opposition to Britain's nuclear weapons, strongly backed sending weapons to Ukraine and stressed the party's commitment to balancing the books. Starmer won a landslide election victory a year ago, but has struggled to maintain unity among Labour lawmakers as the government struggles to get a sluggish economy growing and invest in overstretched public services. He has been forced into a series of U-turns by his own lawmakers, including one on welfare reform that left his authority severely dented.