Conference Greens to demand: renationalise the railways
17th Oct 2004
Green conference will reassert commitment that Labour abandoned in 1997: a publicly owned, publicly accountable, properly funded rail network
The Green Party's conference in Weston Super Mare this week will spell out the electorate's option to vote for rail renationalisation in the coming general election.
This follows the Labour leadership's refusal to put renationalisation in their pre-election manifesto, despite an extensive vote for renationalisation at the recent Labour conference.
Alan Francis, Green Party transport spokesperson said today: "Rail privatisation has failed. Private rail eats £5 billion in public subsidy, one in five trains fail to arrive in time, and two-thirds of the British public believe it should be part of the public sector."
He continued: "Alastair Darling has claimed renationalisation would cost £20 billion. But in fact, taking the Train Operating Companies back into public ownership as their franchises expire would not cost a penny.
"South East Trains is currently back in the public sector, after its private owners Connex performed poorly. The companies which own the trains could be bought from the private sector later.
"This Government's fixation with privatisation has led to poor services, high prices, and massive subsidies. It is time that Britain's railways be run for passengers not for profit."
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TEN YEAR PLAN Transport Targets Brushed Under the Carpet
The government's ten year plan on transport, issued just four years ago, contained vital targets for road-traffic congestion reduction and increased numbers of rail passengers, which have not even been remotely met.
The government's reaction - to tacitly change the targets themselves by issuing yet another ten year plan, whilst adhering to the same policies - is misguided and wrong.
In fact it is Labour's introduction of the £60 billion ten year roadbuilding scheme, coupled with massive under investment in public transport alternatives, which is pushing up private car usage by 1.6% every year.
There are countless reasons for the government to aim to slash UK car usage, not least the £15 billion in hidden environmental, health and pollution costs that road transport imposes on society each year. To achieve this goal, they need a complete re-assessment of their road-orientated transport policy, not to simply water down their targets.
Alan Francis - Green Party Transport Spokesperson
Hidden Subsidies for Motorists --- 21st Jul 2004
Those, like the AA, who complain that Britons pay more fuel tax than the rest of Europe should consider how greatly Britain subsidises car use.
Unlike most Europeans, we pay very few road tolls. The scrapped fuel duty increases, would have been in line with increases in the cost of living, and represent only a small fraction of what car use costs this country.
Traffic on Britain's roads has risen by 18% since 1990 making Britain's roads the most congested in Europe. The CBI estimates suggest that road congestion costs the UK economy up to £20bn every year. In addition to billions spent in road building and maintenance, health care costs and other external factors- up to another £23bn a year.
And the costs are not only financial. In addition to the 3,500 people killed in accidents on Britain's roads last year 24,000 are killed each year by air pollution of which road traffic is a major cause.
Despite complaints about fuel duty increases, drivers have had a much better deal from the government than users of other forms of transport. Between 1975 and 2000 the real cost of motoring has stayed static relative to the cost of living. In the same period non-drivers have faced bus and coach fare increases of 87% and rail fare increases of 53%.
Increases on fuel duty will not solve the crisis on Britain's roads. But they will go some way to compensating for the massive subsidies for motoring.
Alan Francis - Green Party Transport Spokesperson