We should keep East Coast public
While many of my fellow passengers travelling on East Coast between Edinburgh and London may not feel interested in who runs their trains, if they knew that punctuality was threatened and fares set to rise, they would be. And this is exactly what I fear will happen if the government reprivatises services on this line ahead of the next election.
While the Labour government took responsibility for running services on a temporary basis in 2009, in 2012 the shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, argued that East Coast should remain in the public sector for the long term.
Months later the government’s timetable of franchise competitions was suspended as errors emerged in the West Coast Main Line franchising process. This delay meant that if the franchising process was simply restarted the future of East Coast would be decided after the next general election.
This opened up the possibility that Labour’s pledge to keep the service public could be fulfilled, so ministers brought forward the competition for East Coast so that a new private operator would be in place by February 2015.
So why do I object to this privatisation?
For a start it would threaten East Coast’s continued success. Over the last four years new, faster services, improved punctuality and high customer satisfaction have all been delivered.
Privatisation could harm the railway’s finances, making continued fare rises more likely. East Coast has no shareholders to pay, so £640m of profits has been returned to the Treasury, with £40m going back into the service. Not only would prioritising privatisation put this at risk, it will also require costly contract extensions for other franchises.
And a public sector comparator would allow for a more informed debate about the future of the railways. Are people travelling by train more because of privatisation? Are private operators more efficient? Does privatisation transfer risk? Keeping East Coast public would help answer these questions.
In parliament we have exposed the government’s position. Initially, Tory minister Simon Burns talked down the performance of East Coast, using highly selective figures. Then he claimed that, without privatisation, investment in new track and trains would be put at risk, despite this investment coming from the taxpayer. Finally, he simply repeated Labour’s previous position – that public ownership was a temporary measure – until former transport secretary Andrew Adonis intervened, arguing that East Coast’s success has ‘fundamentally changed the situation’.
Outside parliament the shadow transport team, Labour MPs and trade unionists have been campaigning at stations up and down the line. We have had a tremendously positive response from members of the public, which shows that Labour is working with the grain of public opinion. People might be content with a mixed economy, but cannot see the logic of this unnecessary privatisation.
To privatise services by 2015, the government has given itself a very tight timescale. If we continue to expose its position and get the public behind our campaign, there is every chance we can disrupt or delay their plans. And if Labour then wins the next election, East Coast’s success can continue.
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Sheila Gilmore is MP for Edinburgh East
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