Why Labour just pledged to renationalise the railways – and how it might work

Good morning.

One of the big criticisms directed at Labour has been the lack of clarity on the party’s policies and priorities. The ambiguity has only been made worse by the astonishing number of high profile U-turns Keir Starmer’s party has undertaken. From scrapping its £28bn green pledge to moving away from right to roam commitments, dropping its bankers bonus cap and watering down universal childcare proposals, there seems to be nothing that is safe from Starmer’s chopping block.

So the party’s announcement that it will renationalise Britain’s train network within five years of taking power could mark a new chapter in this long, long election campaign. Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said while it will not be easy “it will be [her] mission to get us to the right destination and to deliver for the Great British passenger”. The plans will save the government £2.2bn every year after five years and could reduce additional waste worth up to £680m a year.

The pledge harks back to a vision of Labour that Keir Starmer promised when he first ran in the leadership race four years ago, when he pledged to bring public services into “common ownership”. Supporters say this is the moment that Labour will begin to push its more radical proposals in the run-up to an election campaign. It has been followed by further pledges to tackle biodiversity loss, with Labour committing to stop the decline of British species and protect at least 30% of the land and sea by 2030.

For today’s newsletter, I spoke with Guardian transport correspondent Gwyn Topham about nationalisation, how it could happen and how much of a difference it will really make. That’s right after the headlines.

Five big stories

In depth: ‘Most people don’t mind who runs the sector, just so long as it runs better’

One of the symbols of Britain’s decline over the last decade has been the deterioration of public transport, particularly the rail networks. Rail fares in England and Wales rose 4.9% this year – in 2023 passengers were hit with a 5.9% increase, the largest for more than a decade despite increasingly poor quality of services and reliability. Toxic industrial relations and stagnating wages have meant that strikes have become part and parcel of everyday life in the train sector, so services are often just not running and when they are passengers complain about long delays and overcrowding. “People are in despair,” says Gwyn. “Franchising fell apart during Covid and now we have this system where the government tightly controls everything, paying private operators and telling them what to do – sometimes to the most micro level, which infuriates them.”

Why now?

Though an election date has not yet been set, the Labour party is clearly gearing up for its campaign. Unlike the nationalisation of other sectors, the train network is the easiest place to start. “It’s an easy win, especially for something that looks like a lefty policy but actually is relatively cost free and popular,” Gwyn says. An Ipsos poll found that 65% of Britons believe that trains should be publicly owned and a YouGov poll found that the number rose to 77% of Labour voters.

It is also deliverable as much of the rail network is already in state hands. Over the last decade, the government has inadvertently laid the groundwork for nationalisation: in 2021 the government nationalised Southeastern rail; last year Transpennine Express was stripped from operator FirstGroup and brought under government control, and LNER and Northern rail services are also on the government’s books. Network Rail has been under state control for a decade, meaning that nearly one in four passenger journeys across the country are run by state-operated trains. Rail is the easiest and least costly sector to renationalise.

How quickly will things happen

Louise Haigh said a newly elected Labour government would get the process of nationalising railways started on day one. “There is structural reform that could happen relatively quickly to bring the railway infrastructure and the train operators together under one arm’s length body called Great British Railways,” Gwyn says. “Some of that work is already in motion but it’s been held up by politics because, pre-election, it is not a priority and presumably the prime minister isn’t really behind it.”

Labour have said that a new public body would inherit all private contracts once they expire so that process should also be relatively straightforward too, and reduce bureaucracy. Great British Railways however would continue to lease vehicles as renationalisation would not extend to the actual ownership of the trains themselves which would cost billions and would still allow some private “open access operators” to continue. Haigh says this is because they are not “ideologues” and want to keep private companies that are adding value to the sector. It also helped them get the backing of Mary Grant, the highly paid chief executive of the rolling stock leasing firm Porterbrook. She said it welcomed “the party’s commitment to leverage private capital to help deliver its long-term strategy for rolling stock”.

Whether this changes the situation for passengers dramatically is not clear. Labour have promised to simplify ticket prices – so that passengers always get the cheapest fare possible, but there is no guarantee prices will come down. There is, however, a chance that a Labour government could deescalate industrial tensions if they decide to foster a more amicable relationship with the unions which would reduce strikes and improve the service overall.

“It’s interesting that it’s dressed up in a debate about ideology, whether it’s nationalised or privatised, whereas actually what most of the railway wants is a clear and unified system where people running the trains and other parts of the network are able to get on with their jobs without government micromanagement,” Gwyn says. “Most people do not mind who’s running the sector, just so long as it runs better.”

What else we’ve been reading

While Taylor Swift coins it in, Daniel Dylan Wray looks at the sad truth that working class musicians can no longer afford to tour, putting the live music scene under a very real threat of dying out. Toby Moses, head of newsletters

ICYMI: Andy Beckett’s long read on Diane Abbott’s four decade-long political career and her will to keep fighting is a brilliant reminder of the Labour MP’s resilience and legacy. Nimo

Suzanne Scanlon writes beautifully about the challenges of becoming a mother, when your own mum died when you were young: “I had no self, nothing to break, and so the breaking became the self. I built a personality around never having to feel that way again.” Toby

Alexis Petridis ranks the greatest, most intense and furious hip hop diss tracks of all time (the number one spot will not surprise you). Nimo

The film she’s promoting, Argylle, might not have had the best reviews, but Bryce Dallas Howard comes across as thoroughly lovely in our reader interview – confessing an affection for a bumbag and an eerily effective way to cry on cue. Toby

Sport

Football | Phil Foden shone with two goals and a brilliant display in Manchester City’s 4-0 victory at Brighton that keeps them on course for a fourth straight Premier League title.

Formula One | Adrian Newey is quitting his post as Red Bull design chief in the wake of the allegations surrounding team principal Christian Horner, according to reports. Newey, considered the greatest designer in the history of the sport, is said to have become unsettled following the controversy engulfing Horner, who denies accusations of sexual harassment and abusive behaviour made by a female employee last December.

Tennis | Rafael Nadal has postponed his Madrid farewell, easing to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over 16-year-old wildcard Darwin Blanch.

The front pages

Our Guardian print splash is “Yousaf in peril as Greens say they will back no-confidence motion”. “World’s first jab to stop skin cancer brings hope for patients” – that’s the i and the Daily Express is here for it: “Revolutionary jab offers hope of cancer cure”. The Times reports: “MI5 checks for academics to curb threat from China”. “Weinstein sensation” says the Metro while the top story in the Financial Times is “BHP’s £31bn offer for Anglo prompts backlash from S Africa and investors”. The Daily Telegraph has “Rwanda threat is pouring migrants into Ireland”. The Daily Mirror is campaigning: “Save our cup replays”. Law and order in the Daily Mail: “Thieves hit shops 1,000 times a day”.

Something for the weekend

Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right now

TV
The Red King
Alibi, Sky, Virgin and Now
The Wicker Man celebrated its 50th birthday last year, and Alibi’s wickedly playful island psychodrama feels like a belated part of the anniversary revels. It pays the ultimate Wicker Man tribute by harvesting the premise wholesale. Again, we have an uptight copper gatecrashing a remote isle where the old ways still hold sway. There are locals parading in creepy rustic masks, a self-possessed aristocrat lording over everything and, crucially, a missing child no one seems that fussed about finding. Graeme Virtue

Music
Johnny Cash: Well Alright
Just as David Bowie’s 1990s output has been significantly upgraded since his death, so a collection of Johnny Cash songwriting demos that no label wanted in 1993 emerges 31 years later, heralded as a major new release. Quite what these demos sounded like before their original instrumentation was stripped away and replaced with new arrangements in a classic Cash style is a matter of conjecture but the first single comes from a different world to the flinty, austere music that would reinvigorate Cash’s career a year after it was recorded. It’s good enough to make you believe that his 1993 demos don’t deserve to languish in obscurity. Alexis Petridis

Film
Challengers
Cinemas nationwide from today
Luca Guadagnino directs with style and Zendaya (above centre) is devastatingly cool as Tashi, a former superstar tennis player turned coach, now married to her single client: Art, played by Mike Faist. He is way off his game these days but fiercely focused Tashi comes up with a plan which Art timidly accepts … Moment by moment, line by line and scene by scene, Challengers delivers sexiness and laughs, intrigue and resentment, and Guadagnino’s signature is there in the intensity, the closeups and the music stabs. Peter Bradshaw

Podcast
The Bachelor of Buckingham Palace
Wondery+, all episodes out now
In 2013, Matt Hicks pretended to be Prince Harry for a dating show in which American women contended for “Harry’s” affections. Who on earth would fall for that? Well, in this wild series, TV journalist Scott Bryan speaks to former contestants and finds out just how easily they were duped into taking part in something so absurd. Hollie Richardson

Today in Focus

Cartoon of the day | Martin Rowson

The Upside

A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad

“When disabled people don’t see themselves in the world, it tells us that we don’t deserve to exist, that these stories are not for us, that stories of love and friendship are not for us, and certainly not happy endings,” says Nidhi Ashok Goyal, the founder of Rising Flame.

And They Lived … Ever After is a new book produced by the Indian feminist disability rights group, which collects together retellings of classic European fairytales – including Snow White, Cinderella and Rapunzel – written by south Asian women with disabilities.

By reframing the stories’ central characters to include experiences of autism, blindness, neurodivergence and more, Goyal hopes that the collection will provide a voice and visibility to women with disabilities in a society that still views them at the bottom of the ladder.

Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday

Bored at work?

And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until Monday.

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