Andy Burnham’s growing stature has fuelled hopes of a Labour revival – but ALAN SIMPSON warns that Britain’s crisis runs far deeper than just its leadership and traces its roots to decades of financialised capitalism
Latest editorial
It is time to take Merseyrail into public hands
After yet more disgraceful price hikes enacted purely to line the pockets of private shareholders, RMT general secretary EDDIE DEMPSEY demands that Labour finally does the right thing for rail workers and passengers
Merseyrail trains lined up on the track at Kirkdale Depot
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The nationalisation move to Great British Railways (GBR) must be about more than just changing the livery, writes MARYAM ESLAMDOUST
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ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the issues of liberty, safety and risk in relation to people receiving psychiatric treatment
MERSEYRAIL hiked fares by almost 19 per cent, to cash in on one of the country’s most popular events this past weekend. No doubt there will have been winners and losers throughout the festivities at the Aintree Grand National. But for passengers travelling to the races by train, they will have definitely lost out.
At a time when working people, whether low-paid or well-paid, are seeing a diminishing of their spending power, it is a disgrace that a multimillion-pound rail company is fleecing its passengers in this way.
Merseyrail is a cash machine for its private operators, Serco and Transport UK. Since 2003, they’ve taken over £212 million in dividends out of the railway. That is money which should have gone back into the network — to keep fares down, upgrade infrastructure and improve services for passengers. Instead, it’s gone straight into shareholders’ pockets with much of the money leaving the country altogether.
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