What is happening to the Labour Party?

[Owd Codger]

I've never liked the Franchise system my preference would have been licencing.

My interpretation would have been more than one main operator for each main line with say Virgin and First both running competing services on the same routes.
To ensure they are viable they would be given x number of services in busy periods and a given number in the not so busy periods.

Corbyn says he will only nationalise when the franchises run out. that could take years and years.
I think the Virgin/Stagecoach east Coast main line is a 15 year franchise from this year. So that would be nationalised in 2031.

I think British Rail should have been split up into three plc companies, one for the running of the lines, stations, depots, works, signalling, hotels etc. The second for the running of passenger services and the third, the running of all freight services.

[Wiganer Ted]

The routes, signalling etc were set up into a private company, Railtrack.
They went bust and another private company, Network Rail, was created. Network Rail's debts are so massive that George Osborne took their debt onto the Gov'ts debt list thereby Nationalising Network Rail.

The fundamental problem with our Railways are that they are massively expensive and if there's a debt often it's a massive one too.
Talk of Nationalising the Train Companies hasn't been thought out. When they need new rolling stock it now needs £billions and multiply that by the number of train companies it becomes ten of billions of pounds.
No government wants to spend tens of billions of pounds on trains, so they didn't in the past and won't in the future. Like it or not Trains must remain in private hands with private funding.

As for Freight, that is very much the poor relation.
Coal trains will disappear within 10 years and most of it has gone already. Container traffic is a growth area but the infrastructure isn't in place to cope.
With the environmental push being for renewables then biomass might well give the railways a new source of freight traffic.

For all Labour's talk about transport and the railways they won't say what amount of money they will invest over and above what is going into the sector now.
Big on policy, low on specifics and even lower on money.

[Wiganer Ted]

Corbyn has now been shown up as a right plonker over his claim of a ram packed train when the train wasn't full.
He was going to the Durham Miners Gala so why didn't he book in advance when he would have got a reserved seat.
Corbyn is a fool if he thought he could rubbish Virgin and Branson without a reply.

[fozzieskem]

New kind of politics eh?

[Wandering Warrior]

Corbyn has now been shown up as a right plonker over his claim of a ram packed train when the train wasn't full.
He was going to the Durham Miners Gala so why didn't he book in advance when he would have got a reserved seat.
Corbyn is a fool if he thought he could rubbish Virgin and Branson without a reply.

What is daft is that Branson has been sympathetic to Labour in the past and Corbyn decides to pick a fight with him. The Labour party is a spent condom now I'm afraid and his re-election will confirm this.
He constantly witters on about the 600 thou or whatever it is being the highest membership they've had in years even though some folk openly admit they are Tories or Kippers and have joined to help their own parties by voting for him!!
They were all supposed to be vetted, job well done there?

[Owd Codger]

Corbyn has now been shown up as a right plonker over his claim of a ram packed train when the train wasn't full.
He was going to the Durham Miners Gala so why didn't he book in advance when he would have got a reserved seat.
Corbyn is a fool if he thought he could rubbish Virgin and Branson without a reply.

I am not defending Corbyn but as a regular traveller on Virgin trains, I can assure you that they do tend to get overcrowded and it is normal for a train guard to announce that you can upgrade to the first class.

The problem for Corbyn is that the establishment and that includes many in the Labour Party are going out of their way gunning for him as they want Smith to win as he has said he will do anything to get the UK back into the EU.

For that reason many Labour voters who voted 'out' will not vote for Smith if he is elected and the Tories will easily win again at the next General Election.

As far as I concerned, two poor candidates for the leadership, but only a example of how poor the party has become since 1997 when Tory Tony started the rot!

The introduction by Labour of the paltry minimum wage with no increments for working unsocial hours and which has resulted in the lowering of pay for thousands is a example of how poor the party has sunk in recent years. A minimum wage which has done nothing about the number of workers earning less than the minimum wage and in fact, the number has increased by over 50% and that is only based on those known about by the Government.

What we now have with the Labour Party is a second Tory Party!

[Wandering Warrior]

Or a one party state! That's democracy for you!!
Ring any bells?

[Wiganer Ted]

We do seem to be going that way.
Prior to 2010 we had around 13 years of Labour.
Before that we had more that 15 years of the Tories.
With the boundary changes that favour the Tories we could have them running the shop for a considerable number more years.

What will happen to Labour when Corbyn win this election is the big question and no one seems to know the answer.

[Wintergreen]

Corbyn has now been shown up as a right plonker over his claim of a ram packed train when the train wasn't full.
He was going to the Durham Miners Gala so why didn't he book in advance when he would have got a reserved seat.
Corbyn is a fool if he thought he could rubbish Virgin and Branson without a reply.

I am not defending Corbyn but as a regular traveller on Virgin trains, I can assure you that they do tend to get overcrowded and it is normal for a train guard to announce that you can upgrade to the first class.

The problem for Corbyn is that the establishment and that includes many in the Labour Party are going out of their way gunning for him as they want Smith to win as he has said he will do anything to get the UK back into the EU.

For that reason many Labour voters who voted 'out' will not vote for Smith if he is elected and the Tories will easily win again at the next General Election.

As far as I concerned, two poor candidates for the leadership, but only a example of how poor the party has become since 1997 when Tory Tony started the rot!

The introduction by Labour of the paltry minimum wage with no increments for working unsocial hours and which has resulted in the lowering of pay for thousands is a example of how poor the party has sunk in recent years. A minimum wage which has done nothing about the number of workers earning less than the minimum wage and in fact, the number has increased by over 50% and that is only based on those known about by the Government.

What we now have with the Labour Party is a second Tory Party!

One question. When "Tory Tony" was leader, who did you vote for?

[Owd Codger]

Corbyn has now been shown up as a right plonker over his claim of a ram packed train when the train wasn't full.
He was going to the Durham Miners Gala so why didn't he book in advance when he would have got a reserved seat.
Corbyn is a fool if he thought he could rubbish Virgin and Branson without a reply.

I am not defending Corbyn but as a regular traveller on Virgin trains, I can assure you that they do tend to get overcrowded and it is normal for a train guard to announce that you can upgrade to the first class.

The problem for Corbyn is that the establishment and that includes many in the Labour Party are going out of their way gunning for him as they want Smith to win as he has said he will do anything to get the UK back into the EU.

For that reason many Labour voters who voted 'out' will not vote for Smith if he is elected and the Tories will easily win again at the next General Election.

As far as I concerned, two poor candidates for the leadership, but only a example of how poor the party has become since 1997 when Tory Tony started the rot!

The introduction by Labour of the paltry minimum wage with no increments for working unsocial hours and which has resulted in the lowering of pay for thousands is a example of how poor the party has sunk in recent years. A minimum wage which has done nothing about the number of workers earning less than the minimum wage and in fact, the number has increased by over 50% and that is only based on those known about by the Government.

What we now have with the Labour Party is a second Tory Party!

One question. When "Tory Tony" was leader, who did you vote for?

In 1997, I voted Labour because like many others, Blair was looking like someone who could beat the Tories. However after seeing the kind of devious and lying person he was and still is, and the way he took the party away from its traditional roots and to the right in order to try and catch the middle England vote and later, the introduction of the minimum wage which has dragged down the wage levels of thousands of ordinary families, I no longer vote as there is now no longer a real alternative in the centre left of politics.

It will be no different irrespective of Corbyn staying as leader as most MP's in the Labour Party are now like Smith are Blairites A fact proved by their refusal to accept that Corbyn was not elected by them, but by the membership. The fact that many of those that did vote did so on the strength of just paying £3 and may not have been true Labour voters is only a example of how stupid the party at the top has become, but comes as no surprise when many of them now in Parliament come from a background of never having worked for a living in a everyday job like many of the party MP's of the past or selected as candidates by local parties, but imposed on them by the HQ of the party to get certain people in safe Labour seats like here in Wigan with Lisa Nandy.

A party now out of touch with those who vote for them!