Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has renewed the Green's call call for the railways to be returned to public ownership and accused the government of “failing” on public transport after itannouncedit would delay or cut back several railway improvement projects.
Bennett said:
This government is already failing when it comes to public transport. It is failing the two-thirds of unemployed people who don’t have access to a car, the thousands who die prematurely due to air pollution, the rural poor trapped by the slashing of bus services.
The growing numbers of people who use our railways every day are increasingly dissatisfied with the service they are getting. If we want to encourage people to use public transport, to improve public health and reduce air pollution, we must invest.
Yet instead of making public transport accessible, reliable, convenient and affordable, the government is wasting money on expensive vanity projects like HS2 and the expansion of major roads.
The Green Party, along with 66% of the public, wants to see Britain’s railways back in public hands, so that profits can be invested back into improving services, rather than filling the pockets of shareholders. It’s time the government listened to the public, and delivered a railway service that works for passengers, not profit.