Labour’s ‘radical’ plan to overhaul our railways isn’t quite as radical as it sounds

Editorial: Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, was right to argue that ‘doing nothing is simply not an option’ and that ‘our broken railways are unfit to meet the needs of modern Britain’. So far, so good. But there is always a catch

(Dave Brown)

The Labour Party has promised “the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation” by renationalising the network if it wins this year’s general election.

The policy is not quite as radical as it sounds. Wisely, a Keir Starmer government would not waste taxpayers’ money on old-style nationalisation. Instead, it would transfer the 10 remaining rail operators’ contracts still in private hands into “public control” when franchises expire by the end of a five-year parliament, avoiding the compensation needed in an immediate transition.

Under Sir Keir, Labour has rightly moved a long way from Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge at the 2019 election to put the railways, energy utilities, water industry, postal services and broadband infrastructure in public hands. It is increasingly clear that an incoming Starmer government would have a rotten economic inheritance with no money for such extravagant schemes. Although it would set up a publicly owned Great British Energy company to invest in clean energy like offshore wind, the deservedly criticised water industry would be reformed through tougher regulation rather than state ownership.