Yvonne Fovargue MP: Labour would end the misery faced by rail passengers

​A growing economy and public services fit for the future need a modern transport system to support the flow of people and goods across the country.Under the Conservatives Britain’s broken rail network is simply not delivering.

Cancellations have soared to record high levels, fares have risen almost twice as fast as wages since 2010 and strikes are costing taxpayers £25 million for every day they go ahead, whilst taxpayers fork out huge subsidies to pay for trains that are overcrowded, delayed or cancelled.

Labour will fold existing private passenger rail contracts into Great British Railways as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs, as part of a publicly owned and passenger focused railway.

The Labour Party’s plans mean an end to the misery that passengers face on a weekly basis.

For too long my constituents in Makerfield have been let down by unreliable and inefficient train services, holding back our economy and stopping people accessing opportunities.

A Labour Government would put the passenger first, by delivering a best-price ticket guarantee for passengers and rolling out automatic delay repay and digital season tickets across the network; establish a powerful new passenger watchdog, the Passenger Standards Authority, to hold Great British Railways to account for passengers and deliver significant savings to the taxpayer by eliminating fragmentation, waste, bureaucracy and by stopping profits leaking out to private operators.

We would also create a unified, publicly owned, accountable and arm’s length Great British Railways, which will be led by rail experts, not Whitehall and we expect to complete the transition to public ownership within the first term of a Labour Government, by folding existing private passenger rail contracts into the new body as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs.

It's also good news for local decision making as devolved leaders, including Mayoral Combined Authorities, a statutory role in the rail network, allowing decisions about the railways to be taken closer to the communities they serve.

Labour’s plans will mean reliable, safe, efficient, accessible, affordable and quality train services, no matter where you live.

The biggest casualty of these 14 years has been hope. The wasted potential of communities yearning for change.

The false promises betrayed by a Conservative Party that has spent its time focussed on itself, not the country.

A party now once again – even after all the chaos of recent years - focussing on a new round of leadership manoeuvrings, not on the change local communities so urgently need.

My message in these local elections is that change starts here. Britain needs change now.

We have wasted too many years and too much potential.

Stop the dithering over the General Election and give the country the chance for change.

Change will only come if people vote for it and every vote for Labour is a message that the country wants change.