Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh has pledged to bring railways back into public ownership as contracts expire if Labour returns to power. Speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool last week, Haigh said: “We will put the public back in control of the essential public transport they depend upon. We will give those communities that want it the power to set bus routes and fares, following the path set by our brilliant mayors in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and here in Liverpool City Region. And we will end the ideological ban on communities establishing their own municipal bus companies.” 

The “days of tinkering around the edges of a system that has so clearly failed the public are over”, Haigh proclaimed. “That’s why an incoming Labour government will end this farce. We will end this failed experiment. We will cast aside the tired dogma that has failed passengers. We will improve services and lower fares.”