Eurostar sale: Unions to fight 'tooth and nail' in face of 40% sale to raise £300m

Rail union members and Labour Party concerned over potential 'rushed and undervalued sell-off'

Trains and St Pancras facilities are getting a make-over by Christopher Jenner (Hasselblad UK)

The Government is inviting bidders to express their interest in a 40 per cent stake in Eurostar amid fierce backlash from unions who claim they will fight “tooth and nail” over any potential sale.

Chancellor George Osborne advised potential buyers to respond by the end of the month, saying the aim was to raise £300million from the sale to tackle national debt and maximise taxpayers’ value for money.

The decision was attacked by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, and the Labour Party warned that the sale of the service will be “rushed and under-valued” in the wake of Royal Mail privatisation.

Mr Osborne said: “I am determined that we go on making the decisions to reform the British economy and tackle our debts. So we will proceed with the potential sale of the UK's shareholding in Eurostar today.

“Ensuring that we can deliver the best quality infrastructure for Britain and the best value for money for the taxpayer are key parts of our long-term economic plan.

“As part of our aim to achieve £20 billion from assets sales by 2020, the sale proceeds would make an important contribution to the task of reducing the public sector debt.”

Eurostar has carried over 145 million passengers between London St Pancras station to mainland Europe from 1994 and is set to expand routes to Geneva, Lyon, Marseille and Amsterdam.

Mary Creagh, shadow Transport Secretary, said: “After the staggering incompetence of the Royal Mail sale fiasco, which lost taxpayers a billion pounds, people will worry that this is yet another rushed and undervalued sell-off.

"City adviser UBS made millions from Royal Mail and is advising on the Eurostar sale. Lord Myners is still conducting his review into government privatisations after Royal Mail, and ministers should await his report before any sale begins.

"The National Audit Office should urgently conduct a value-for-money inquiry before this sale proceeds.

“We must ensure that taxpayers are not ripped off again by bungling ministers and poor financial advice from the City.”

Royal Mail was floated on the stock market last October with a value of £3.3billion, which is £2.3billion short of its estimated £5.6billion worth in April this year.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "This is a gross act of betrayal of the British people by a right-wing government hell bent on selling off the family silver regardless of the real cost.

"This compounds the issue of foreign ownership of Britain's railways as the French state have first refusal on our slice of the highly profitable Eurostar cake.

“The French and Belgians think we are insane knocking off such a valuable and strategic infrastructure asset.

“This sell-off is just a short sighted act of industrial vandalism based on a bankrupt pro-privatisation ideology. RMT will fight this tooth and nail.”

The French state train company SNCF owns 55 per cent of Eurostar and Belgium's SNCB holds per cent.

Mr Cash added: “With Eurostar a strong contender for the resale of the East Coast franchise we could easily end up within the next few years with the French state having complete control of rail services from Paris to Inverness.”