PARLIAMENTARY COLUMN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2019 :: RMTnews 9 RMT member Chris Altree has been selected as Labour’s candidate for the Barrow and Furness constituency to stand in the next General Election. Chris was born in Barrow and works for Network Rail as a signaller on the Furness line. Chris has deep connections to Barrow and says that he will work hard to protect jobs and fight for investment in manufacturing so that all corners of Barrow and Furness can thrive. Speaking after the selection, Chris said: “I am proud to have been selected to be Labour’s candidate for the next general election. “Labour is meant to be the political arm of the ordinary people and it should never forget that. “This Tory government has overseen the biggest cuts to our public services in a generation. The NHS and social care is in crisis, our schools are struggling under the weight of the budget cuts and cuts to police budgets are putting our safety at risk. “People here in Barrow and Furness need a local representative that will put them first. “I feel that now is the time for more working class people to stand in politics and help get the party back to fighting to improve the lives of working people. “Many bright young people leave the area so we need vibrant, diversified industry, harnessing the industrial power we already have here. Transport is also key, I know more than most how vital it is to have a nationalised, safe service that properly connects the Furness peninsula to the rest of the North,” he said. When asked how he got involved Chris explained that he enjoyed vital support from the union. Furness was built on both sea and rail- the bedrock of organised labour which was provided by the forebears of the current RMT, which brought both together. So what advice would he give to RMT activists who want to stand for political office? “Get a small team around you of people you trust, with a range of skills and be passionate and believe in yourself-don’t let anyone tell you it’s ‘too much’. Parliament should represent the people, it’s one of the main reasons I stood. “RMT members can help locally by supporting local labour Party events and union members are fantastic on the doorstep- this area was built on the marriage of rail and manufacturing and their voice will speak loud in this constituency. “We must shout from the rooftops, the positive Labour message of hope and fantastic policies which will transform this country for the better,” he said. attractive to these funds because it is characterised by investment costs, predictable income, low exposure to economic cycles or market volatility and high barriers to market entry that prevent competition and allow the companies to raise prices over time. In other words, they are reliable sources of income based on services that people will always need which are relatively easy to monopolise. • All the ROSCOs have owners with companies based in Luxembourg, which is a low tax regime in which interest payments between companies are not taxed. In 2014, the LuxLeaks (leaked papers revealing the tax agreements of dozens of companies in Luxembourg) revealed that in 2009 AMP Capital, who now owns 65 per cent of Angel Trains, were using a complex web of companies using various forms of intra-group lending to avoid paying tax on money they were extracting from Angel Trains and other investments. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that the figures should be a wake-up call for the new Transport Secretary. “For years, we’ve known that the rolling stock companies have failed to deliver new investment in vehicles for a modern railway, leaving passengers paying the highest fares in Europe to travel on clapped out, overcrowded trains. “Now we can see some of what they’ve been up to. Huge dividend payments and interest on group loans have been flowing away from our railways. “Because of their shady group structures and their use of companies in low tax regimes and tax havens, we’ll probably never know how much they’ve salted away from our railways, but what we can see shows that passengers and tax payers are being ripped off every day. “It’s not just the train operating companies we need to see off, it’s time to end this racket once and for all and take control of our rolling stock,” he said. Parliamentary Column STANDING FOR LABOUR