British Politics Thread

Jeremy Corbyn v Richard Branson – the Battle of the Beards. And as someone who uses the East Coast line every week, I’m with the passengers.

Virgin East Coast Trains, which Corbyn highlighted in his video, is 90 per cent owned by Stagecoach, run by SNP donor Brian Souter.

Virgin Trains owns only 10 per cent. And Stagecoach owns half of that too. But this dispute is 100 per cent about Branson. It’s all about protecting his “brand” at any cost.

When I was Labour ’s shadow transport minister before Major privatised the railways, Branson told me he wanted to own both the East Coast and the West Coast services.

His dream was to own a rail “loop” around the country. I was dead against it.

As Transport Secretary I faced a mountain of problems to sort out the privatisation mess. My priority was improving the rail lines.

Sadly my hands were tied on taking the franchises back into public ownership.

They had years to run and would have cost billions in compensation to people like Branson to take them back.

Blair and Brown felt there were more pressing priorities – getting people back to work and investing in our creaking NHS and schools after years of Tory misrule.

But in 2009, Labour had to take the East Coast route back into public hands.

The previous private franchise owners National Express and GNER couldn’t make it profitable.

So we created East Coast Trains. This meant we could compare a London-to-Scotland train service in public hands with Branson’s.

Guess which was better?

From 2009 until 2014, a state-run East Coast Trains delivered £1billion back to the taxpayer. Which was all reinvested in making the service better.

Over the same period, Virgin West Coast could only manage a third of that profit – and most of that sum went to its shareholders.

In fact, they lost the franchise to First Trains, only to get it back after a legal challenge.

East Coast Trains provided a better service, a better return, used less subsidy and made the taxpayer money.

But the Tories forced the sell-off of the East Coast Route to Virgin and Stagecoach just before the last General Election for £3billion. Branson finally got his loop.

But they paid twice as much as the previous private owners paid – and they couldn’t make it work. How will Virgin do it?

Well, in the past the state subsidised his profits. A study by academics at the University of Manchester found the total subsidy we gave Virgin West Coast between 1997 and 2012 was £2.79billion.

Government then spent £9bn upgrading the West Coast Track and heavily subsidised his new Pendolino trains.

And Network Rail, which controls the lines, reduced the yearly track access charges train companies have to pay from £3bn to £1.5bn. Another state subsidy.

So between 1997 and 2012, Virgin West Coast Trains were able to make £518m profit – 96 per cent of which was given straight to shareholders.

But Branson’s finding Virgin East Coast a bit more of a problem as the Tories are reducing the subsidies – and it’s the staff and passengers who’ll pay the price.

It pulled many of its cheapest advanced fares from popular routes, doubling some fares – and passengers aren’t even guaranteed a seat.

According to the train union the RMT, dozens of staff face the sack as Virgin East Coast tries to find cuts. Free wifi on all trains promised in Branson’s bid has failed to appear.

And on my Virgin East Coast Train, once proudly known as the Hull Executive, the service has rapidly deteriorated. Forget wifi, the train I get doesn’t even have plug sockets.

And five months before we become the UK City of Culture attracting tourists from around the world, the engine is branded East Midlands Trains.

I wrote to Branson on three occasions but received no reply. But he’s more than happy to potentially breach data protection laws (the ICO is “making inquiries”) and publish CCTV footage of a man who wants to take his shoddy train service back into public hands.

They may be Virgin Trains. But the passengers are getting screwed day after day.

They may be Virgin Trains. But the passengers are getting screwed day after day.

The decision by Virgin Trains to release CCTV images of Jeremy Corbyn on one of its services after he complained on video about the journey being “completely ram-packed” was in breach of the company’s own policies, the Guardian can reveal.

The company handed images, which appeared to show the Labour leader walking past empty seats before sitting on the train’s floor, to the media earlier this week in a bid to embarrass Corbyn after he filmed the video.

A leaked internal document warns that CCTV images will only be made available to the media in two situations: where it is “necessary to seek assistance from the public in connection with a criminal investigation” or where it might improve the “safety of the railway or prevent railway accidents of incidents”.

The stories you need to read, in one handy email Read more The Virgin policy, written by the company’s emergency planning, fire and security manager, Jim Rawcliffe, adds: “Any such decision to release footage for these purposes will be approved by the head of safety and environment and, where appropriate, following consultation with the relevant police authority.”

The revelation raises questions about why Virgin and its chief executive and founder, Sir Richard Branson, released CCTV images to make a political point about the Labour leader.

The company published pictures of Corbyn walking past seats that appeared available in order to hit back after he was filmed sitting on the floor saying that his experience was a good argument in favour of public ownership.

The party leader’s claim was derided, with accusations that he had lied about how busy the train really was.

However, leaked emails reveal that the managing director of Virgin Trains East Coast told staff that the controversy had highlighted how crowded services can be, and that finding seats could make customers anxious and stressed.

David Horne also admitted having to stand by a customer toilet for a journey of almost 200 miles, from Newark to London. He said that was during Virgin’s “hot seat week”, when directors and managers are banned from travelling in first class in order to “take a hard look at our standard class offer”.

On Friday, he wrote: “Putting politics aside, this incident demonstrates just how busy many of our services are, those in the middle of the day as well as at peak times.”

UK: The Department for Transport named Abellio as preferred bidder for the new East Anglia franchise on August 10. The franchise is due to start on October 16 2016 and run until October 2025, replacing the current Greater Anglia franchise which is also held by Abellio.

A £1·4bn investment programme under the new franchise is to include:

• Complete replacement of the current fleet, with the delivery of 1 043 new vehicles between January 2019 and September 2020. Bombardier is to be awarded a £900m contract financed by leasing company Angel Trains for the supply of 665 Aventra electric multiple-unit cars from its Derby plant. Stadler is to enter the UK mainline passenger rolling stock market for the first time with an planned order for 383 Flirt electro-diesel and electric multiple-unit cars.
• Refurbishment of 'many' existing vehicles ahead of the arrival of the new fleet.
• 'Tough new performance targets', with Public Performance Measure scores to be increased from 89·7% to 92·9% 'through a more robust timetable, investment in infrastructure, people and process and through an alliance with Network Rail'.
• At least two trains per weekday each way between London and Norwich with a journey time of 90 min, and two between London and Ipswich in 60 min.
• Free wi-fi on trains and at stations.
• Investment to improve the journey experience, including nearly £60m for stations, with major schemes at Broxbourne, Cambridge, Cheshunt, Harlow and Southend Victoria, digital information screens at all 131 stations, improved ticket offices and more ticket vending machines, nearly 1 800 additional car parking spaces and 4 000 additional cycle parking spaces.
• New ticketing initiatives from October 2017, including offers for part-time workers and those who do not travel every day.
• Automatic 'delay repay' for season and advance purchase tickets.
• £120m of investment in depots, including a new maintenance facility at Manningtree.
• Taking on 20 trainees per year, with a minimum of 30 apprenticeships by 2019.

DfT said the franchisee would make premium payments worth around £3·7bn over the nine-year period.

The franchise is expected to carry more than 97 million passenger-journeys/year. The number of seats on services arriving at London Liverpool Street station in the morning peak is to be increased by 55% to 91 000, and across the franchise there will be 1 144 additional weekday services, an increase of 13%.

Dominic Booth, Managing Director of the Abellio UK subsidiary of the Dutch national passenger operator NS, said the company was 'pleased to become preferred bidder to deliver a transformation in rail services across the region'. This would 'enable us to build on the successes of the two short East Anglian franchises we have run since 2012, and we commend the DfT in running a transparent and rigorous procurement process.'

He said the new franchise would 'greatly improve our customers' experience with faster and more reliable journeys on new trains with higher frequencies and reduced journey times, to support the socio-economic well-being of East Anglia, one of the country's most successful and fastest growing areas.'

Bombardier Transportation's UK Commercial Director, Des McKeon, said the rolling stock order was 'a great endorsement of Bombardier's next-generation Aventra train family, which offers maximum flexibility, to serve many different market requirements from metro to inter-city.' Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said Abellio's decision to order rolling stock from Bombardier would 'ensure our train building industry in Derby remains strong'.

Short version then.

Corbyn libelled Virgin

The head of Virgin posted proof that Corbyn lied

Corbyn complained that the head of Virgin had promised not to post that and called for him to be stripped of his knighthood.

A better argument would be that he's a tax exile who doesn't pay any UK taxes, but even then it's shaky ground to say that all tax avoiders should loose their knighthoods.

You Gov/Times poll of Labour leadership race

Tomorrow’s Times has a new You Gov poll of the Labour leadership electorate (party members from before the cut-off date, trade union affiliates and £25 registered supporters) showing Jeremy Corbyn with a robust lead over Owen Smith. Topline voting intentions excluding don’t knows are Corbyn 62%, Smith 38%. 8% of voters say don’t know.

Jeremy Corbyn leads convincingly in all three parts of the electorate: among party members he is ahead by 57% to 43%, among trade union affiliates he is ahead 62% to 38%, among registered supporters he is ahead by a daunting 74% to 26%. If the numbers are broken down by length of membership Owen Smith actually leads among those who were members before the last general election, but they are swamped by the influx of newer members who overwhelmingly back Jeremy Corbyn.

The poll was conducted over the weekend, so after Labour members will have started to vote. The actual contest still has three weeks to go, but with people already voting and that sort of lead to make up Owen Smith’s chances do not look good.

Looking to the future, 39% of the selectorate (and 35% of full party members) think it is likely the party will split after the election. 45% of party members who support Owen Smith say that if some M Ps opposed to Corbyn were to leave and form a new party they would follow them (29% of Smith supporters say they are likely to leave the party if Corbyn wins anyway… though I’m always a little wary of questions like that, it’s easier to threaten to leave than to actually do it)

You Gov also asked about mandatory re-selection. Party members are divided right down the middle – 46% of full members think M Ps should normally have the right to stand again without a full selection, 45% of members think that M Ps should face a full reselection before every election. The split is very much along the Smith-Corbyn divide – 69% of Corbyn supporters are in favour of reselections, 77% of Smith supporters are opposed.

Voters will be required to present a passport, drivers licence or utility bill when they go to the polls in a bid to tackle electoral fraud, The Telegraph understands.

Ministers are likely to introduce a pilot of the scheme amid concerns that people are impersonating genuine voters.

It comes after a report commissioned by Sir Eric Pickles, the former Conservative Cabinet minister, today warns that the authorities are in a “state of denial” and are “turning a blind eye” to election fraud.

Sir Eric, who says that there were 665 alleged cases of electoral fraud last year, said in an article in the Telegraph that voters should “have to produce personal identification before voting at polling stations”.

Pickles’ plans are based on assumptions which appear contrary to impartial evidence. But he and the Tories appear keen to push the reforms through, regardless. What Pickles doesn’t mention is the number of people that will be affected by the rule changes.

Research conducted by The Canary using data accumulated (csv) for the GOV.UK website, shows the results are shocking. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiled evidence of how many people have the correct ID to access online government services. 22 ID options were used in their modelling. They included either a passport, driving licence, bank account or utility bill. Note this compared to Pickles’ proposed three forms of ID needed to vote. As of March 2016, just over 86% of people aged 16 or over had the correct ID. If you take out the 2 million 16-18-year-olds, this means that, on average, around 4.3 million people would not have the right ID to vote.

Also, it will impact women and the poor the most. Example percentages of people with the correct ID include:

• Less than 1% of men, economically inactive in the urban South East, aged 25-44.
• 13% of men, economically inactive in urban London, aged 25-44.
• 16% of men, employed but not classified in urban Yorkshire, aged 25-44.
• 20% of women, employed in routine or manual jobs in the rural East Midlands, aged 45-54.
• 25% of women, economically inactive in the urban North East, aged 75 and over.
• 26% of men, economically inactive in rural Scotland, aged 55-64.
• 26% of women, employed in routine or manual jobs in the urban South East, aged 45-54.

Contrast this with the statistics for those in management roles. Nearly 100% of people in these jobs have the correct ID. And where the percentage does drop, it’s among women.