Philip Hammond blasts Labour’s £176billion ‘borrowing binge’ plan to re-nationalise rail network
The Chancellor said Labour 'aren’t fit to govern and working people would pay the price if they ever got the chance'
PHILIP Hammond blasted Labour over a £176billion “borrowing binge” to re-nationalise the entire rail network.
The Chancellor hit out at their plans to bring private rail firms into public ownership within five years - before the current contracts expire.
The Tories claimed the “ideological re-nationalisation” laid out by John McDonnell would lead to “less choice and poorer services”.
Mr Hammond said: “It would put politicians in day to day control of our vital services, meaning nowhere for people to turn when things go wrong.
“Labour aren’t fit to govern and working people would pay the price if they ever got the chance.”
His attack came as the shadow Chancellor outlined the proposals on the eve of the Labour annual conference in Liverpool which starts today.
McDonnell suggested the party are already probing how it could be done by taking advantage of break clauses in existing contracts.
The party said in last year’s general election they would bring rail firms into public ownership as the current franchises end.
The shortest contracts run for seven years but often run for more than a decade.
When asked whether it was achievable in just one Parliament, he said: “I think that’s possible.
"That’s why we’re working through the detail now of how that can be done.
“If you look at what’s happened over time a number of these franchises have been handed back anyway.
“I think we are in a situation now where I think that is certainly possible.
"We want to get to within the first term of a Labour government an integrated railway system.”
Mr McDonnell said a new Labour government would set up a public ownership unit at the Treasury to uncover ways of re-nationalising industries such as water.
He said he would be ready on “day one” to implement the policy.
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The unit would also look at compensation for shareholders under the plans and decide which private finance deals should be nationalised.
The plans would be cost neutral as the money generated from the new set-up would cover the costs of financing the debt needed to purchase them.
Shadow Minister Dawn Butler was asked how much the plan would cost yesterday but couldn’t give a a figure as she wasn’t doing the “number-crunching”.
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