Unions reiterate calls to renationalise railways after TransPennine Express joins London North Eastern Railway, Northern, and Southeastern
THE government’s rail privatisation fiasco hit the buffers again today as yet another failed, profiteering operator was dumped and its operations taken under public control.
TransPennine Express (TPE) pocketed millions of pounds in taxpayer subsidies even as it cancelled one in six of its timetabled services leaving thousands of frustrated passengers stuck on platforms.
Almost a quarter of Britain’s rail services are now back under public control after failing miserably in the hands of privateers.
TransPennine, which is owned by First Group and operates coast to coast in northern England, joins London North Eastern Railway, Northern, and Southeastern services under public control.
ScotRail and Transport for Wales are run by the Scottish and Welsh governments.
Unions reiterated their calls for renationalisation of the whole rail network.
Left Foot Forward is one of this blog’s favourite blogs and is recommended. A selection of current stories from Left Foot Forward for your delectation ;)
The transport secretary Mark Harper has been accused of “muddying the waters” by presenting misleading narratives in the rail dispute, on BBC Question Time last night.
When answering questions on resolving the rail strikes, Mark Harper attempted to shirk responsibility by referring to train drivers pay and unused ticket offices.
It comes as the RMT union smashed their latest mandate for strike action, meaning members working for 14 train operating companies could strike again over the next six months.
It is their third mandate in the National Rail Dispute, with the latest receiving a 91% yes vote.
Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary said the mandate sends a clear message to employers of the “huge anger” amongst rail workers.
‘Why are they treating their own staff worse than anyone else?’
The government has been accused of ‘punishing’ their own staff and ‘making an example’ of civil servants by the leader of the union for civil service workers.
In an ongoing dispute over pay, job losses and redundancy terms, civil servants with the union Prospect are on strike today for a second time in what is the largest industrial action the union has taken in over a decade.
Their members’ pay has declined by up to 26% in real terms since 2010, with civil servants on some of the worst pay settlements in the public sector, having been dealt a recent 4.5% pay offer by the government.
The union have called for a ‘serious pay offer’ that recognises the cost-of-living crisis that their members are facing.
The train ticket would’ve cost Sunak £30 return, yet he opted to travel by air, at a cost to the taxpayer in the region of £6,000.
The Tories would like you to believe that they care about climate change and the effective use of taxpayers’ money, yet their actions show the complete opposite.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is fond of taking helicopters and private jets for short trips and is now once more being slammed for using a taxpayer-funded helicopter to make a journey that would have taken little more than an hour on the train.
Sunak took a chopper to Southampton to attend a GP surgery and pharmacy to promote the government’s latest intervention to reduce the strain on GP practices.
According to train timetables, had the Prime Minister taken the 8:35am train from Waterloo he would have arrived in Southampton at 9:50am. That Sunak decided to fly to the port city and back via helicopter has led to some Tory MPs fearing that it will cement Sunak’s image as an out of touch Prime Minister.
The train ticket would’ve cost Sunak £30 return, yet he opted to travel by air, at a cost to the taxpayer in the region of £6,000.
One Tory MP told the Guardian: “Is it unfair to say that the weekend was about a powerful unelected individual who is unfeasibly wealthy and lacks the common touch … and King Charles III?”
‘The segment of concern gave a wholly biased account of the verdict in the trial of Donald Trump for sexual assault’
Ofcom has been sent a strongly worded letter from two leading Green Party politicians, calling for the media regulator to revoke the broadcasting licence given to GB News after the scandal hit channel was once again found to have breached broadcasting regulations.
Molly Scott Cato, Green Party Speaker on Economy and Finance and Councillor Jack Lenox, Parliamentary Candidate for Lancaster, have shared a picture of their letter on Twitter, with Lenox tweeting: “Jacob Rees-Mogg’s defence of Donald Trump’s sexual abuse is disgusting. And his brazen attempt to mislead the public is a grotesque abuse of our broadcasting regulations.
“Today @GreenPartyMolly and I have written to Ofcom asking them to revoke GB News’ broadcasting licence.”
Ardent Brexiteer Rees-Mogg has been slammed for his GB News broadcast on the Donald Trump sexual assault trial. Rees-Mogg emphasised that Trump had been found ‘not guilty of rape’, and also questioned the US legal system. Rees-Mogg was joined on the programme by Kari Lake, a top Republican and well-known 2020 Election denier, as well as Nigel Farage.
A jury found that Trump had sexually abused magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in a New York department store in the 1990s. The jury also found Trump liable for defamation for calling the writer’s accusations “a hoax and a lie”.
Reacting to Rees-Mogg’s comments on Trump, James O’Brien tweeted: “When Owen Paterson broke Parliamentary rules, Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked the rules.
“When a jury decided Donald Trump was a sex offender, Jacob Rees-Mogg attacked trial by jury. There’s a pattern here.”
Just Stop Oil supporters are now in their third week of marching in central London every day to demand an end to any new fossil fuel projects in the UK.
At 8 am, around 32 Just Stop Oil supporters began marching from Queen Victoria Street near Mansion House tube station. Just Stop Oil supporters have been marching in the capital, every day since the 24th of April. Police are on scene and currently threatening to impose conditions under the public order act (section 12) in a bid to stifle legitimate dissent.
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:
“The Public Order Bill and specifically Section 12 notices are being used to remove the British public’s right to peacefully oppose government policies that threaten the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Marching has been an integral means of bringing about social change for centuries, be it for those seeking universal suffrage, those seeking to gain equality, or those seeking to make transport accessible for disabled people.”
The government continues to face criticism in the wake of the wrongful arrests of dozens of peaceful protestors during the coronation, including 19 Just Stop Oil supporters and two independent journalists. No Just Stop Oil supporters have been charged, but some have been released ‘under investigation’ meaning media organisations are unwilling to interview them.
Climate protesters have gathered outside Norwegian oil giant Equinor’s London offices to oppose the company’s plans to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field.
Rosebank, which lies west of the Shetland Islands, is one of the largest such fields in the North Atlantic, capable of producing up to 500 million barrels of oil.
The International Energy Agency has previously said there must be no new investment in oil and gas if the world is to become net zero by 2050, while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said emissions from existing fossil fuel infrastructure are already set to push global temperatures beyond safe limits.
…
We’re outside London @Equinor HQ demanding they get #EquinorOut of oil & gas ⏩ Their shareholders are meeting in Norway to decide its future today.
They want to open new oil & gas projects in Argentina, Canada, the UK & Brazil.
