Latest news with #GarethBacon
Telegraph
7 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Tories won't re-privatise railways, leaked audio reveals
The Conservatives will 'probably not' re-privatise the railways, the shadow transport secretary has said. In a recording obtained by The Telegraph, Gareth Bacon told Tory activists that taking passenger trains back into private control was unlikely to be popular with voters by the time of the next general election. South Western Railway entered full state control last weekend after 29 years but engineering works meant passengers needed to board a rail replacement bus for part of its first service. Labour plans to bring all passenger trains into public ownership over the next three years under its flagship Great British Rail (GBR) scheme. Asked about his party's policy on the railways during an event for party members on May 19, Mr Bacon replied: 'If I'm asked today to say what is likely to be our policy of going into the election in four years' time, it very much depends on how GBR is operating at that time. 'I suspect it won't be going as well as what you might like and one of the things I think we'll certainly be looking to do is looking at how we can make that work better. 'Taking a punt today, am I likely to be recommending that we re-privatise the railway in our next manifesto? I would say probably not, because I don't think it would have been bedded in enough at that time for the public to think that that was a good idea. 'But I do remain open-minded to it, and it depends on how GBR is operating closer to the time.' Tories would offer 'radical' alternative On Tuesday, the Tories attacked Labour's nationalisation plan and suggested they would offer a 'radical' and 'accountable' alternative. A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'Nationalisation only serves the unions that bankroll the Labour Party. 'Under new leadership, the Conservative Party is undertaking a radical policy renewal programme, one that will stand up for the needs of passengers and fight for a system that is efficient, accountable, and built to serve Britain.' Mr Bacon last week accused Labour of 'taking us back to the 1970s' as those travelling beyond Surbiton on the first nationalised service had to change onto a rail replacement bus. At the same event, he also said it was unlikely that his party would be able to cut the price of rail travel if it returned to power in the future. Asked how the Tories could work to reduce railway fares for the consumer, he said: 'I don't think that is a likely proposition and the reason for that is that inflation doesn't go backwards. 'And I'm afraid that the costs of rail maintenance will constantly go up.' Train drivers received a 15 per cent pay rise from the Labour Government last year, a deal that meant some are receiving payments of up to £600 to work weekend overtime shifts. It represented an olive branch to the unions and brought an end to rail strikes that had been taking place since 2022 at an estimated cost of £850 million to the taxpayer. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, said at the end of last year that the double-digit pay rise for train drivers had made delays and cancellations worse. Mr Bacon's comments come after Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, launched her policy renewal programme in March which aims to rebuild her party's electoral fortunes. The scheme will include a number of policy commissions aimed at drawing up more specific pledges in the coming months and years. Mrs Badenoch's time as leader to date has been overshadowed by the ongoing rise of Reform UK, which has outperformed the Tories in the polls for several months. The success of Reform has prompted internal criticism of Mrs Badenoch from those who believe that she must be more visible and announce a greater number of detailed policies. But the Tory leader has insisted it will take time to rebuild after her party suffered a historic drubbing at last year's general election. In her first major speech, Mrs Badenoch apologised for her party's record on immigration and vowed to take sweeping measures to significantly reduce numbers. She has since declared her opposition to the legally binding 2050 net zero target signed into law by Baroness May, the former Tory prime minister, and backed by all of her predecessors.
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Transport Secretary: Public doesn't care who runs railways
Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures show that there were 43.2 million passenger journeys in the last three months of 2024, compared to 54.2 million at the same point in 2017 when SWR's final private operators took on the franchise. This is a 20 per cent drop, although the Covid-19 pandemic caused a slump in passenger numbers that has taken the whole industry years to recover from. At present, private train companies are paid a flat management fee of about 2 per cent of the ticket sales revenue that they earn by the DfT, with the taxpayer subsidising any financial losses. Ms Alexander acknowledged the cost to the taxpayer of running Britain's trains and suggested she wants to reduce it. 'The real issue that I've got is that, at the moment, the operational running of the railways costs the taxpayer about £2 billion a year, and that's before you get to the billions that we invest every year in Network Rail, in the infrastructure, the track, the signalling,' she told reporters in Bournemouth on Thursday. 'And so I would love to be able to tell your readers that I'm going to be able to bring ticket prices down, but I can't do that at the moment,' she continued. 'What I can promise your readers, though, is that I will strain every sinew to make sure that they get decent value for money, because people are having to pay a fair whack for train travel.' Gareth Bacon MP, the Conservative shadow transport secretary, said bringing SWR into state ownership was motivated more by politics than providing better services. 'Satisfy their union paymasters' 'Labour promised their rail renationalisation plans will bear down on ticket prices, end disruption and strikes, and lead to better onboard services,' he said. 'We are concerned that since the Labour came to power their need to satisfy their union paymasters led to a 15 per cent pay rise with – incredibly – no strings attached, which was paid for by already hard-pressed commuters who have been faced with a 4.5 per cent increase in rail fares. 'Labour have talked up the benefits of renationalisation for years and they will now have to deliver on their promises of lower ticket prices, an end to all disruption and strikes and better onboard services. The alternative is that, as usual, British taxpayers have to foot the bill for Labour.' After SWR falls into Government hands on Sunday, the remaining nine privately operated train companies will have their contracts terminated at roughly three-month intervals. By 2027 a new body, Great British Railways (GBR), will be set up to run the trains. Ms Alexander said earlier this week that nationalised operators will have to 'earn the right' to become part of GBR by improving their punctuality, reliability and 'passenger experience' before they will be allowed to rebrand. 'This is not British Rail Mark Two,' she vowed to The Telegraph. 'This is going to be a 21st-century organisation that is commercial, that is lean, that is agile.' The next train company to be nationalised is c2c, which takes place on July 25, followed by Greater Anglia in October.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
First nationalised train will be a rail replacement bus
The first nationalised rail service is set to be a rail replacement bus, it has emerged. South Western Railway is the first train operator to be renationalised as part of the Labour Government's flagship rail reforms. It will be taken into state ownership from 2am on Sunday, with the first service set to depart from Woking for London Waterloo at 5.36am. However, passengers intending to travel beyond Surbiton will have to change onto a rail replacement bus to complete their journey because of engineering works near Raynes Park. Gareth Bacon, the shadow transport secretary, said: 'Only Labour could nationalise a train company and launch it with a rail replacement bus. They are taking us back to the 1970s. 'Since the Labour took over the railways, their need to satisfy their union paymasters led to a 15 per cent pay rise with no strings attached, which was paid for by already hard-pressed commuters who have faced a 4.5 per cent increase in rail fares. 'Labour have talked up renationalisation for years – now they have to deliver. But from day one, their grand plan already looks like it's going off the rails.' To celebrate the nationalisation, Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, is expected to board the 6.14am Waterloo to Shepperton service on Sunday. It is set to be diverted around the disruption. 'Sunday marks a watershed moment in the Government's plan to return the railways to the service of passengers and reform our broken railway,' she told Parliament on Thursday. The service Ms Alexander will board will be run using one of the controversial Class 701 Arterio trains, a new model that has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, problems with onboard software and trade unions' demands for guards to be kept on the trains even though they are designed for driver-only operation. It will be SWR's first London departure under Government control. But the first scheduled service after the 2am switchover to state control is the 5.36am departure from Woking. On any other Sunday, this train would go through to London Waterloo, taking about three-quarters of an hour. This weekend, however, a passenger wanting to take it faces a journey more than double the usual length, at two hours and two minutes. Instead of going to London, the service is set to terminate at Surbiton – some 25 minutes up the line from Woking – leaving passengers to scramble for a replacement bus. After an hour winding through the back streets of south-west London, travellers will be deposited at Clapham Junction. From there, they can take an 11-minute train to Waterloo. Ms Alexander, the Cabinet minister, added in her Parliamentary statement on Thursday: 'Public ownership alone is not a silver bullet and will not fix the structural problems hindering the railways currently. That will take time.' Sunday will not be the first time that railway problems have hindered ministerial plans. On Thursday, track damage caused by a Freightliner train near Micheldever, in Hampshire, triggered extensive disruption to services across southern England – including from Bournemouth, where Ms Alexander had been hosting an event to mark SWR's transfer into her direct control. A service carrying Lord Hendy, the rail minister, arrived at Waterloo almost an hour late as a result of the disruption. A spokesman for South Western Railway and Network Rail said: 'Maintenance and upgrades, essential for enhancing services for customers, are planned many months in advance and this bank holiday weekend is no different.'
The Sun
01-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Feckless Avanti bosses can't run a train on time but are splashing cash on woke murals instead of improving service
LUCKY passengers using Avanti West Coast trains now have another great reason to splash out an extortionate sum on their tickets. One of the trains has been covered from top to bottom in a mural of happy ethnic minority people. 3 3 The whole train. 'Scenes of people, culture, colours and joy,' Avanti's website gushes. It looks like a dog's breakfast to me, but there you are. The huge image is called 'Together We Roll'. Isn't that lovely? And how brave of Avanti to spend money on that. Rather than on improving their punctuality. At the end of last year Avanti West Coast had the worst punctuality record of any of the main train companies. Just two out of five of its trains managed to arrive on time. Even by our usual standards, that's a shockingly low percentage. Avanti explained that the mural was all part of their equity, diversity and inclusion programme. Really? You still have one of those? I think it is high time you got rid. But needless to say this extravagance with your money – you pay for the tickets as well as the subsidies, remember – is supported by our Labour government, whose spokesman thought it was a lovely design. The Conservative's transport spokesman Gareth Bacon put his finger on the issue though: 'Avanti West Coast can't run a train on time, but they can find the time and money for virtue-signalling nonsense." While passengers are stranded on platforms waiting for services that never show up, Avanti are busy patting themselves on the back for colourful train paint jobs. Exactly. And we're all getting just a little bit sick of it. The right-on corporate virtue signalling from big firms. Often at our expense. The showing off by police forces who paint their cars in rainbow colours to show solidarity with the gays and the trans lobby. But won't lift a finger to help when you've been burgled, or had your phone nicked in the street. The NHS with its profusion of diversity officers on more than £50,000 per year. While patients lie on gurneys in hospital corridors. It's all showing off. It's all saying we're woker than you are. And I think the British people, of whatever colour, have had enough of it. Oh, by the way, if you see Avanti's mural train, have a look at it. See if you can find a white face anywhere. I couldn't.
Telegraph
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Woke row after train repainted to celebrate diversity
A train company has been accused of 'virtue-signalling nonsense' after repainting one of its trains in diversity-themed livery. The Avanti West Coast train has been painted in bold artwork celebrating the ethnicity of the company's workforce and the communities it serves. But Gareth Bacon, the Conservative shadow transport secretary, described the move as 'virtue-signalling nonsense' and claimed passengers deserved 'better than this farce'. Baraka Carberry, a digital artist, who created the livery for Avanti, said it depicted 'scenes of people, culture, colours and joy'. The Together We Roll design stretches across all seven carriages of a new Evero train, which is due to enter passenger service this summer. It was produced following a suggestion from the rail operator's frontline workers at Euston station, The Telegraph understands. Mr Bacon said: 'Avanti West Coast can't run a train on time, but they can find the time and money for virtue-signalling nonsense. While passengers are stranded on platforms waiting for services that never show up, Avanti are busy patting themselves on the back for colourful train paint jobs. 'This nonsense won't fix the delays, cancellations, and endless chaos that Labour have caused with their 'no-strings' pay giveaway to the unions. Passengers need functioning rail services and deserve better than this farce.' 'Proud of this unique train' Kathryn O'Brien, Avanti West Coast customer experience director, said: 'Nothing like this has been seen on the UK's railways. We're incredibly proud of this unique train and who it represents. 'By bringing to life the vibrant communities we serve and our employees, we hope to highlight the many people of different cultures, backgrounds and heritage who have a connection to the railway. This vibrant train marks our latest step towards this by sparking conversations about ethnicity and bringing a sense of togetherness across the west coast and beyond.' Lord Hendy, the rail minister, said: 'Diversity is key to the success of any industry, and creative work like this goes a long way in sparking conversations, encouraging inclusion and may inspire more people to choose a career in rail. 'We still have a long way to go until we have a railway which reflects the society we live in, but Together We Roll shows Avanti West Coast's commitment to representing more of the communities they serve, and I look forward to seeing Baraka's artwork out on the track.' Ms Carberry, who previously designed a Windrush-themed bus wraparound covering for Transport for London, described the Avanti train livery as 'a living, evolving artwork that has the potential to resonate with the public'.
