Renationalisation of British Rail

The renationalisation of British Rail is a political proposal to undo the privatisation of British Rail which occurred between 1994 and 1997, by the then-Conservative Party Government which passed the Railways Act 1993.

Background

Between 1994 and 1997, Britain's state-owned rail network, which had existed since 1948 was through The Railways Act 1993, dismantled and sold off. The privatisation of British Rail^[1] was seen by the then Conservative Government as a way of offloading the cash-strapped national rail carrier, and offering more choice into the marketplace. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack on 1 April 1994; afterwards passenger operations were franchised to individual private-sector operators (originally 25 franchises); and the freight services sold outright (six companies were set up, but five of these were sold to the same buyer).^[2] The money generated by the rise in passenger numbers in the late 1990s early 2000s did not stop the steep rise in ticket prices, a reason given for privatisation, leaving the UK with the highest ticket prices in western Europe.

Popularity

A 2012 poll shows that shows a 70% of voters want a re-nationalisation of the railways, while only 23% supported continued privatisation.^[3][4] According to a 2013 YouGov poll, 66% of the public support bringing the railways into public ownership.^[5]

Political discussion

In 2013 Labour Party members suggested re-nationalising the railways should be one of the eye-catching policies Labour should explore leading up to the 2015 general election The policy has since been dropped in favor of simply keeping the fragmented rail system in place and creating a government backed Intercity franchise to compete with the other train operators^[6]

The Green Party of England and Wales has already committed to Renationalisation in their 2015 Manifesto,^[7] reconfirming this at their Autumn conference in Birmingham in September 2014. Caroline Lucas' Private Member's Bill calls for the end of franchising altogether. Lucas argues allowing the individual franchises when they expire or when a company fails to meet its franchise conditions to fall back into public ownership will avoid expensive compensation to the rail company's, saving over £1 billion a year, every year for the public. With polls showing 70% in favour of bringing the railways back into public ownership, it suggests this could be a big issue in the upcoming general election.

In an article in May 2014 Peter Hitchens called for re-nationalisation the railways,^[8] one of many on both sides of the political divide who see the broken rail network as unsustainable, and a possible election issue.

Bring Back British Rail

Bring Back British Rail logo

Bring Back British Rail campaign.^[9] is a pressure group formed in 2009 by Ellie Harrison.^[10] Harrison and BBBR aimed to popularise the idea of returning the British Rail network to public ownership, following its controversial privatisation in 1994.

In 2013 Ellie Harrison, as the face of BBBR, was invited by Caroline Lucas MP to sit as a key note speaker on the Future of Our Railways policy panel ^[11] to bring the railways back into public ownership, at the annual conference of the Green Party in Brighton.^[12] On 5 May 2014, five years after its launch, the Bring Back British Rail campaign reached a milestone of 50,000 supporters on its Facebook page. Within another year, by May 2015, this had doubled to more than 100,000. ^[13]

The group has also been mentioned in British Railways: The Nation's Railway by Tanya Jackson, a noteworthy entry for a campaign then under 50,000.

References

• http://brightgreenscotland.org/index.php/2013/06/caroline-lucas-bill-to-renationalise-the-railways-published-today/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22700805

External links

• Bring Back British Rail on Facebook