PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

Parliamentary column Last month the House of Commons voted to return the railways to public ownership. MPs voted for a motion for public ownership tabled by Labour’s shadow Secretary of State for Transport in light of eye watering far rises and chaos with the rail franchising system including the debacle of East Coast Rail. In extraordinary scenes when the motion was put to the vote by Labour, Tory MPs abstained meaning the motions passed without opposition. As the Tories do not have a majority they could not muster the votes to oppose the motion. We are now entering the 25th year of the anniversary of the legislation that privatised the railway and athough the motion was only symbolic, as the opposition does not have the power to initiate legislation, it represents another body blow to rail privatisation and was soon followed by an admission by the government that they are examining taking East Coast back into public ownership. During the same debate Labour MPs also spoke up in favour of guards, some extracts below. DAN CARDEN (LIVERPOOL WALTON) “I want to focus on the current dispute at Merseyrail, where 207 guards may be scrapped against the backdrop of police cuts and rising crime, the role of the guard in Merseyside is more important than ever. The Merseyside travelling public have supported the retention of guards throughout the dispute, amidst grave concerns about passenger safety. Is it fair that Merseyside passengers should pay fares that Merseyrail’s owner, Abellio, uses to pay for Dutch public railways, but do not enjoy the same safety standards as passengers on Dutch railways? The Merseyrail dispute is not going to disappear. Reluctantly or not, the Government and regional and local politicians will have to engage further if we are to get our railways moving again in 2018. I say to Merseyrail’s owners, Abellio and Serco, that they should not do deals on Merseyside that they think they can hide in their corporate offices.” SANDY MARTIN (IPSWICH) “In my region, Abellio is running some trains with guards and some without. It is using its plans to introduce new trains in East Anglia as an excuse for threatening to remove guards’ ability to supervise the closing of the doors. I have a great fear that my constituents’ travel needs will be sacrificed on the altar of the rail operator’s intransigence. Abellio is quite capable of running brand new, safe and viable trains with guards who fully supervise the train, including by closing the doors. It can do that in Scotland and do it in the Netherlands.” RACHAEL MASKELL (YORK CENTRAL, SHADOW RAIL MINISTER) “we must make our railways safe, and we will make them safe and accessible by ending the scrapping of the guards—a resolve the trade unions are calling for today—so that disabled people can have their dignity restored in using rail, while women can feel safe on trains both day and night. This is the rail service that the British people are demanding, and it will take a Labour Government to deliver it.” JOHN GROGAN (KEIGHLEY) “Northern Rail is owned by the German state, and I call on the Government to start talks. We can get a solution to the strikes that are affecting my constituents for three days this week. There is a simple solution in Scotland: the driver opens the door, and the guard closes the door and maintains safety. A solution can be reached, and the Government have a responsibility to try to reach it.” GRAHAME MORRIS (EASINGTON) “The state-owned German rail company that owns a substantial chunk of our franchises invests that profit in its own system, through subsidised fares there. That seems ludicrous to me and most of the travelling public” LISA NANDY (WIGAN) “losing the guard on the train. I will tell him what that will do: it will make our railways no-go areas for many people, including women late at night, people with disabilities and older people, who make up the bulk of my constituents.” KATE HOEY (VAUXHALL) “Why has RMT been able to negotiate successfully in Scotland and in Wales the question of driver-only trains, which is concerning for the public, when we cannot get that here in England? Is it something to do with the Secretary of State?” PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR RAIL PUBLIC OWNERSHIP! RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2018 :: RMTnews 9 months and it was putting “considerable resource” into the Carillion inquiry. “One significant constraint is the incredibly poor standard of the company’s own record- keeping. It took some hours to identify how many directors we could potentially be targeting,” she said. RMT has also called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to bring Carillion’s London rail contract work into direct public ownership through Transport for London with guaranteed protection for the workforce, their jobs, pay, conditions and their pensions. Staff working on the Carillion contracts carry out a range of safety critical signalling, power, maintenance, cleaning and track works on Crossrail, the East London Line extension, Heathrow Express and London Overground. The union has urged Sadiq Khan to take the Carillion London rail operations into public ownership with jobs, pensions and the essential safety-critical work protected. “When Metronet collapsed on London Underground immediate moves were made to maintain the functions under public ownership to ensure safety and continuity. “The Carillion situation is no different and RMT is seeking to move this forward as a matter of urgency,” Mick Cash said. Britain’s four biggest accountancy companies are also facing fresh scrutiny, with the head of the industry watchdog calling for the competition regulator to investigate their auditing activities following the collapse of Carillion. Frank Field, Labour MP and chair of the work and pensions select committee, has asked whether KPMG, Deloitte, EY and PwC should be broken up. He noted that two of Carillion’s recent finance directors had previously worked for KPMG and it had audited Carillion’s accounts for the past 19 years. “They are all mates, aren’t they?” he said. But vote ignored by the Tories…