|
|
Post by witchfinder on Apr 26, 2024 8:29:08 GMT
Privatisation of our railways has been a failure, and in the North of England a DISASTER, and nationalisation should be the only way for public transport. The annual £2.2 BILLION paid to shareholders can be invested in the rail network, benefitting passengers and the public. The estimated £700 Million per year which will be saved by having one company "Great British Railways" instead of 14 different companies can also be used to improve services for the general public. This is going to be one of Labours most popular policies, and it will be very popular amongst the tired, fed up commuters of middle England, including amongst many Tory voters. Where is the money coming from to make up for the loss in private sector investment? - are you expecting more government subsidy or higher fares? The private sector actually invests very little into our railways, other than the leasing of rolling stock from specialised companies and manufacturers. Most of the investment in railways ( actual railway lines and stations ) comes from government / local government / the tax payer. The Labour plan will do several things, to the advantage of the public, firstly the private sector will continue to benefit via the leasing companies and manufacturers, who in most instances will continue to provide the bulk of rolling stock. The detailed proposals also set out how a new Rail Regulator will operate, one with teeth and proper powers to protect the passenger, this will for instance include instant refunds. Great British Railways will not be answerable to company directors or shareholders, it will be answerable to the British Public and the Minister responsible. My hope or wish is that (if elected) they would eventually do the same to buses, Re-regulate them and give us back the reliable services we used to have. |
|
|
|
Post by The Squeezed Middle on Apr 26, 2024 8:44:48 GMT
Where is the money coming from to make up for the loss in private sector investment? - are you expecting more government subsidy or higher fares? The private sector actually invests very little into our railways, other than the leasing of rolling stock from specialised companies and manufacturers. Most of the investment in railways ( actual railway lines and stations ) comes from government / local government / the tax payer. The Labour plan will do several things, to the advantage of the public, firstly the private sector will continue to benefit via the leasing companies and manufacturers, who in most instances will continue to provide the bulk of rolling stock. The detailed proposals also set out how a new Rail Regulator will operate, one with teeth and proper powers to protect the passenger, this will for instance include instant refunds. Great British Railways will not be answerable to company directors or shareholders, it will be answerable to the British Public and the Minister responsible. My hope or wish is that (if elected) they would eventually do the same to buses, Re-regulate them and give us back the reliable services we used to have. That's a rose tinted view, Witchy. I'm just about old enough to remember the nationalised services and my recollection is somewhat different to yours. |
|
|
|
Post by witchfinder on Apr 26, 2024 9:00:49 GMT
The private sector actually invests very little into our railways, other than the leasing of rolling stock from specialised companies and manufacturers. Most of the investment in railways ( actual railway lines and stations ) comes from government / local government / the tax payer. The Labour plan will do several things, to the advantage of the public, firstly the private sector will continue to benefit via the leasing companies and manufacturers, who in most instances will continue to provide the bulk of rolling stock. The detailed proposals also set out how a new Rail Regulator will operate, one with teeth and proper powers to protect the passenger, this will for instance include instant refunds. Great British Railways will not be answerable to company directors or shareholders, it will be answerable to the British Public and the Minister responsible. My hope or wish is that (if elected) they would eventually do the same to buses, Re-regulate them and give us back the reliable services we used to have. That's a rose tinted view, Witchy. I'm just about old enough to remember the nationalised services and my recollection is somewhat different to yours. I dont know where you live, but where I live NO ONE relies on rail travel any more if they have either urgent appointments or connections to other transport / flights etc, they are quite simply so unreliable, the service here in Northern England must be the worst train services in all of Europe. I also remember British Rail, I remember jokes about the food, and I remember the old trains, but I also very clearly remember that they were infinitely more reliable than today. |
|
|
|
Post by see2 on Apr 26, 2024 10:28:34 GMT
The private sector actually invests very little into our railways, other than the leasing of rolling stock from specialised companies and manufacturers. Most of the investment in railways ( actual railway lines and stations ) comes from government / local government / the tax payer. The Labour plan will do several things, to the advantage of the public, firstly the private sector will continue to benefit via the leasing companies and manufacturers, who in most instances will continue to provide the bulk of rolling stock. The detailed proposals also set out how a new Rail Regulator will operate, one with teeth and proper powers to protect the passenger, this will for instance include instant refunds. Great British Railways will not be answerable to company directors or shareholders, it will be answerable to the British Public and the Minister responsible. My hope or wish is that (if elected) they would eventually do the same to buses, Re-regulate them and give us back the reliable services we used to have. That's a rose tinted view, Witchy. I'm just about old enough to remember the nationalised services and my recollection is somewhat different to yours. I'm old enough to be able to remember the financially starved Nationalised railway services. And, interested enough to have read pre WW2 complaints in parliament about government money keeping the private sector railways running, and Churchill arguing for the commonsense use of a nationalised integrated railway system. |
|
|
|
Post by Pacifico on Apr 26, 2024 10:29:42 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by sheepy on Apr 26, 2024 10:40:36 GMT
I don't believe it for one minute anyway, firstly it is so the Left-wing voters turn out for Labour and secondly it will have the Tories voters in meltdown as we can read and back voting for the Tories. Which in reality they just a small band of believers in bullshit.
|
|
|
|
Post by sheepy on Apr 26, 2024 10:51:01 GMT
Labour has been abolishing the house of Lords for over a century and it still hasn't happened yet. The Conservatives and Labour have been building a better Britain ever since WW2 I get these things take time but in 80 years the country has been going backwards financially for the average person and these days, they are not even allowed to protest about it.
|
|
|
|
Post by witchfinder on Apr 26, 2024 11:05:41 GMT
Polling by YouGov, published yesterday shows 69% of the British public are in favour of bringing our railways back into public ownership.
As for "Britain going backwards", generally speaking living standards have improved under both Conservative AND Labour governments since the Second World War. The one exception is NOW, we are worse off than we were a few years ago, living standards have fallen, and even life expeectancy has dipped.
As for the House Of Lords, the last Labour government did make changes for the better, more or less abolishing Hereditary Peers, reducing the house numbers from over 1300 to 669, but in my opinion more reform is necessary.
|
|
|
|
Post by dodgydave on Apr 26, 2024 11:23:24 GMT
Network Rail has been Nationalised for the past decade - has anyone noticed a massive leap in service and performance? Well if you go down that route water and sewage services were privatised 35 years ago and we’ve seen a noticeable deterioration countrywide. Nope, what you have is an ideologic driven narrative that tells you things have gotten worse, despite concrete evidence that things have improved dramatically. Since privatisation we have invested year on year more than anybody else in Europe, leaks are down a third, drinking water quality is one of the best in the world, dead rivers have come back to life, and our beaches are not covered in turds! Some people point to shareholder dividends and say look, that is why we have a sewage release problem, if they spent that money on invest the problem would be solved. Do the slightest bit of research and you will find it is a £600 BILLION legacy problem that built up under nationalisation... because guess what... there is no votes in sewage... so investment was at the back of the queues behind health, pensions, policing, education, defense, roads etc. Now of course ideally utilities would be nationalised and well run... but if Labour are being dishonest about the problems from the start what chance have we got? |
|
|
|
Post by The Squeezed Middle on Apr 26, 2024 11:30:25 GMT
Polling by YouGov, published yesterday shows 69% of the British public are in favour of bringing our railways back into public ownership... You mean 69% of left leaning YouGov respondents were in favour. |
|
|
|
Post by The Squeezed Middle on Apr 26, 2024 11:32:03 GMT
Well if you go down that route water and sewage services were privatised 35 years ago and we’ve seen a noticeable deterioration countrywide. Nope, what you have is an ideologic driven narrative that tells you things have gotten worse, despite concrete evidence that things have improved dramatically. Since privatisation we have invested year on year more than anybody else in Europe, leaks are down a third, drinking water quality is one of the best in the world, dead rivers have come back to life, and our beaches are not covered in turds! Some people point to shareholder dividends and say look, that is why we have a sewage release problem, if they spent that money on invest the problem would be solved. Do the slightest bit of research and you will find it is a £600 BILLION legacy problem that built up under nationalisation... because guess what... there is no votes in sewage... so investment was at the back of the queues behind health, pensions, policing, education, defense, roads etc. Now of course ideally utilities would be nationalised and well run... but if Labour are being dishonest about the problems from the start what chance have we got? Plus Labour couldn't run a piss up in a brewery. |
|
|
|
Post by see2 on Apr 26, 2024 11:57:08 GMT
Nope, what you have is an ideologic driven narrative that tells you things have gotten worse, despite concrete evidence that things have improved dramatically. Since privatisation we have invested year on year more than anybody else in Europe, leaks are down a third, drinking water quality is one of the best in the world, dead rivers have come back to life, and our beaches are not covered in turds! Some people point to shareholder dividends and say look, that is why we have a sewage release problem, if they spent that money on invest the problem would be solved. Do the slightest bit of research and you will find it is a £600 BILLION legacy problem that built up under nationalisation... because guess what... there is no votes in sewage... so investment was at the back of the queues behind health, pensions, policing, education, defense, roads etc. Now of course ideally utilities would be nationalised and well run... but if Labour are being dishonest about the problems from the start what chance have we got? Plus Labour couldn't run a piss up in a brewery. In year 2000. -- "Overall, Britain gets good marks for steady improvements, producing an overall compliance figure of 91.5%, on the basis of data supplied to the commission by the environment agency. Last year the number of British beaches failing minimum EU water standards also dropped steeply to 80 from 115 in 1998." -- And they were early days, the improvements continued under New Labour. -- "Previous campaigns on acid rain and sewage have been successful in improving water quality, but improvements have stalled since 2016." "Improving" is not the same as cleaning up. 2016 is of course Tory territory. Talk about "couldn't run a piss up in a brewery." So true  |
|
|
|
Post by see2 on Apr 26, 2024 12:01:23 GMT
Polling by YouGov, published yesterday shows 69% of the British public are in favour of bringing our railways back into public ownership... You mean 69% of left leaning YouGov respondents were in favour. I imagine that making up some sort of contorted excuse ^^^ might make you feel a bit better, how sad. |
|
|
|
Post by see2 on Apr 26, 2024 12:19:28 GMT
Well if you go down that route water and sewage services were privatised 35 years ago and we’ve seen a noticeable deterioration countrywide. Nope, what you have is an ideologic driven narrative that tells you things have gotten worse, despite concrete evidence that things have improved dramatically. Since privatisation we have invested year on year more than anybody else in Europe, leaks are down a third, drinking water quality is one of the best in the world, dead rivers have come back to life, and our beaches are not covered in turds! Some people point to shareholder dividends and say look, that is why we have a sewage release problem, if they spent that money on invest the problem would be solved. Do the slightest bit of research and you will find it is a £600 BILLION legacy problem that built up under nationalisation... because guess what... there is no votes in sewage... so investment was at the back of the queues behind health, pensions, policing, education, defense, roads etc. Now of course ideally utilities would be nationalised and well run... but if Labour are being dishonest about the problems from the start what chance have we got? English water companies have handed more than £2bn a year on average to shareholders since they were privatised three decades ago, according to analysis for the Guardian.1 Jul 2020 England's privatised water firms paid £57bn in dividends since 1991 (Privatised in 1989) The UK is the only country to have privatised all of its waters. Thatcher was an idiot with a silly corner shop ideology. |
|
|
|
Post by Pacifico on Apr 26, 2024 12:20:01 GMT
You are reading the wrong data. Bathing water quality in England"The quality of bathing waters in England has improved significantly in the last 20 years. The latest data from 2019 shows that that 72% achieved the highest standard of Excellent, while 98.3% passed the minimum standard." |
|
