A UNION leader has urged Labour not to “backslide” in the run-up to the general election on a policy of renationalising the railways.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), told a fringe meeting at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool that taking the railways back under public control remains party policy.
He argued that the entire railway system should be renationalised.
“It was a manifesto commitment from the last election and it is still Labour policy," said Lynch.
“We cannot have any backsliding on that before the next election.
“The job is: make sure Labour live up to the policy which is there in black and white.
“Labour should be shouting from the rooftops that the era of privatisation is over.”
Mick Whelan, general secretary of the train drivers’ union Aslef, told the meeting that the Government was overseeing the “managed decline” of the railways.
