PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2015 :: RMTnews Parliamentary column To be honest, at times, it feels like Parliament has got a ration on common sense. Take the forced re-privatisation of the East Coast Mainline. As you’ll know, when National Express failed it and bailed out, East Coast was taken back into public hands. In its five years under public stewardship, it was turned around. It returned nearly £1billion to the taxpayer, increased passenger numbers, introduced a new timetable, improved punctuality, invested in ageing rolling stock and achieved an industry leading approach to recycling and reducing carbon emissions. The move to flog it back, cash- cow like, to private profiteers defied all business (and common) sense. No doubt you also share my dismay that the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern super-franchise wasn’t awarded to our public sector. Instead it went to state companies in Europe, threatening our services and the livelihoods of hundreds of skilled railway workers here, including in my own city of Brighton. It’s appalling that passenger services, welfare and worker rights would be so jeopardised. Privatisation has comprehensively failed. Our once thriving railways, now fragmented, are today characterised by poor services and soaring fares (up by more than an eye-watering 20% for Brighton-London commuters under the current Coalition Government). They’re ripping off passengers, letting down (and letting go) workers, harming the economy and failing the environment. We could keep puffing along. Keep patching up a punctured system, paying ever more for ever less. Or we can fix the fault at the source, by bringing the ownership and operation of our railways back into public hands. RMT is the leading voice in the campaign to do just that. It’s given me essential support as I fight the cause in Parliament, and my Railways Bill – which calls for franchises to be returned to public hands as they expire, or fail – draws on the impressive research in its Rebuilding Rail report. A publicly-owned railway will provide quality services, fair prices and protect our jobs. The idea has its opponents, of course, crying of a rose-tinted return to the ‘dark days of British Rail’. There are certainly lessons to be learned from British Rail. But the system we once had was undermined, undervalued and underinvested. It didn't fail us – our politicians did. We need a new approach. I want to see a fully public and reunified railway. Network Rail had to be taken into full public ownership last year – so why not finish the job? And the modern, efficient, affordable, clean, services enjoyed in other parts of Europe offer us a positive, forward- thinking blueprint. A new rail system should be truly public - with workers and passengers participating in decision-making. It should prioritise passengers, not shareholders. Cut bonuses - not staff (and with them their wealth of experience and knowledge). It should be accessible to all - financially and physically. And it needn’t be a pipe dream. We know de-privatisation is popular with the public and there’s also cross-bench support. But Labour’s Leadership is yet to jump on board: Ed Miliband would only invite public operators to compete against private companies for lucrative rail contracts. The proposal is a fence-sitting fudge, as he well knows: millions would be wasted in bureaucratic bidding wars. Our railways would remain, quite literally, in pieces and, quite probably, privatised. Back the public, Mr Miliband, to give us a reliable public railway to be rightly proud of again: you’d be welcomed if you did. In the meantime, I’ll push my Railways Bill at every opportunity. There can be no let up until common sense prevails, and our railways are put right. RMT has always been successful in getting fairness and justice for its members – and it’s an honour to fight your corner in Westminster. Caroline Lucas is Green MP for Brighton and her Railways Bill is due its Second Reading in Parliament on February 27 COMMON SENSE ON RAIL 9 L abour MP John McDonnell has welcomed “a major and historic victory” after a Parliamentary committee agreed to amend clause 5 of the Transport for London Bill which he dubbed a “public land grab”. The Bill would have let TfL team up with private partners for land development projects — similar to the controversial Earls Court “masterplan”. While the committee agreed to most of the Bill, the amendment means that TfL would need direct permission from the Secretary of State to enter limited partnerships. Mr McDonnell, chair of RMT’s parliamentary group, pledged to “now take the fight to the floor of the Commons in order to try and defeat this Bill” before its third reading, due later this year. He urged Londoners to lobby their MPs to oppose a Bill that he warned if passed “could result in the greatest public land grab by developers London has ever seen”. Campaigners also attended the committee to to prevent TfL from getting away with future developments similar to Capco’s demolition of Earls Court. The Earls Court redevelopment, which TfL entered into with Capco, will bulldoze the famous venue and two council estates in order to erect luxury flats that campaigners predict will largely lie empty. TfL failed to respond to requests for comment. VICTORY AGAINST SHADY LAND DEALS