Recently the South Dorset Green Party Parliamentary candidate, Jane Burnet, led a group handing out leaflets to rail travellers to win more support for the already popular campaign to bring the railways back into public ownership. This was part of the national fair–fares day of action organised by a wide coalition of groups under the umbrella of Action for Rail.
The Green Party supported this national event because we are the only party to call for the unequivocal re-nationalisation of the railways. The East Coast line was taken over by apublicly owned body when the franchise holder walked away from their contract. Since it has been publicly run it has returned a profit of £16m to the treasury and passenger satisfaction is high.
As the other privately run franchises come up for renewal, we could simply keep them as public companies. This will not be a costly exercise and profits could be used to keep fares down instead of maintaining dividends for shareholders. Yet the other political parties are resisting this even though over 65% of the public support this policy.
Trains are essential to the economy of Dorset, bringing tourists to our coasts and giving people of working age desperately needed flexibility in where they might be able to work, or look for work. The recent report about the level of repossessions in Weymouth highlights the need for our young people to be able to access work and training opportunities in the economies of Bristol and Bournemouth, at least as part of the solution in the short term. But this is intolerable expensive. Affordable train and bus services are essential for our region’s economic health.
And the benefits of family days out are impossible to measure. All these trips will be under pressure until action is taken to bring this essential service back under public control.
Jane Burnet
