A correspondent to the York Press asked last week about cheaper rail fares. Read the response letter I sent below...
In response Owen Clayton (Hugh Bayley's inaction, 18th February), I am very happy to say that I fully support the campaign to cut the cost of rail fares. Surveys have shown that people in Britain are typically paying around 50% more those elsewhere in Europe for similar journeys.One factor that has exacerbated this problem is privatization.
Why do we have public subsidy being provided at one end of the system whilst massive private profits are creamed off at the other end? As an example, until 2007, HSBC rail (a rolling stock leasing company) were charging £120,000 plus VAT each year to Island Line Trains for each of six former London Underground units operating on the Isle of Wight Railway - although the trains had been built in 1938. This figure did not even include maintenance!
The government-owned East Coast franchise that has been introduced after the National Express fiasco should be a first step to bringing the whole of our rail system back into public ownership. This was actually supported in a motion passed by Labour Party members at their Conference in 2004, only to be told bluntly by then Transport Secretary Alastair Darling that such a policy had been ruled out.It's time to get back to the basics of customer service and value for money. Government cash put into the railways should be providing a better and cheaper service for everyone, not massive profits for obscure "leasing" companies, many of them owned by banks.
Andy Chase
Green Parliamentary Candidate for York Central
Sunday 28 February 2010
Saturday 27 February 2010
Issues on the doorstep
Well, been out canvassing earlier today. Quite a lot of positive responses and a few diehard Labourites, but also a number of people who are thoroughly disenchanted with politicians of all colours - many of them former Labour supporters. If I were a sitting Labour MP in any seat, I'd be seriously worried about the fallout from the expenses scandal. What's unfortunate is that the behaviour of those MPs who were claiming everything they could has tainted everyone in the political system.
One is sometimes met with the retort that "they're all the same." As it happens, I don't think this is true of everyone in the main political parties, let alone the Greens. There are MPs in other parties - Vince Cable (himself a former parliamentary candidate for York) to name but one, who chose not to claim substantial amounts of money they could have claimed under the rotten expenses system for mortgages and other items. I'm not saying they were a majority - it's truly sad just what a large proportion of MPs were sucked into the trough - but the fact remains that a high-minded minority did not.
The only way this mess is going to be sorted out is by people voting for candidates who have committed themselves to change.
I've already stated clearly on the York Green Party website and in my leaflets where I stand on this matter. If elected, I won't claim for any mortgage payments, maintenance on properties, furniture or expenses for normal everyday items like food that I would have to buy anyway. I will use only the cheapest rail fares (that means standard class travel on every trip) and use the cheapest accommodation if staying away from home. Additionally, I'll list every expense I claim on the internet and have anything I do claim independently audited every year.
This isn't purely an empty promise as I already work for a national charity - and I occasionally have to travel away from home. Because of this, I'm already expected to keep expenses to a minimum when at work.
We need to return to the principle that every expense should be wholly, necessarily and unavoidably associated with the job. I was one of the many people who wrote to their MPs in 2009 before the expenses scandal broke to persuade them not to pass legislation to stop freedom of information access to expenses - and I will continue to campaign for changes to the system. But I will also be keeping my own house in order whether "the system" changes or not. I'm also proud that the two Green MEPs in Brussels have an excellent record of probity over their claims, having published their expenses online for years.
So I would urge anyone who is concerned about this to scrutinize what all the candidates have said - and done - on the matter to date: then use your vote to make a difference.
One is sometimes met with the retort that "they're all the same." As it happens, I don't think this is true of everyone in the main political parties, let alone the Greens. There are MPs in other parties - Vince Cable (himself a former parliamentary candidate for York) to name but one, who chose not to claim substantial amounts of money they could have claimed under the rotten expenses system for mortgages and other items. I'm not saying they were a majority - it's truly sad just what a large proportion of MPs were sucked into the trough - but the fact remains that a high-minded minority did not.
The only way this mess is going to be sorted out is by people voting for candidates who have committed themselves to change.
I've already stated clearly on the York Green Party website and in my leaflets where I stand on this matter. If elected, I won't claim for any mortgage payments, maintenance on properties, furniture or expenses for normal everyday items like food that I would have to buy anyway. I will use only the cheapest rail fares (that means standard class travel on every trip) and use the cheapest accommodation if staying away from home. Additionally, I'll list every expense I claim on the internet and have anything I do claim independently audited every year.
This isn't purely an empty promise as I already work for a national charity - and I occasionally have to travel away from home. Because of this, I'm already expected to keep expenses to a minimum when at work.
We need to return to the principle that every expense should be wholly, necessarily and unavoidably associated with the job. I was one of the many people who wrote to their MPs in 2009 before the expenses scandal broke to persuade them not to pass legislation to stop freedom of information access to expenses - and I will continue to campaign for changes to the system. But I will also be keeping my own house in order whether "the system" changes or not. I'm also proud that the two Green MEPs in Brussels have an excellent record of probity over their claims, having published their expenses online for years.
So I would urge anyone who is concerned about this to scrutinize what all the candidates have said - and done - on the matter to date: then use your vote to make a difference.
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