Plan to renationalise railway ‘an ideological joyride that will cost billions’, say Tories

JEREMY CORBYN’S plan to renationalise the railways is an “ideological joyride” that will cost taxpayers billions of pounds, the Conservatives have warned.

Mr Corbyn has said that his first act as prime minister would be to create a “people’s railway” by putting all rail franchises back into public ownership when they expire.

However, Patrick McLoughlin, the Transport Secretary, warned that every British family would lose money under the “backwards-looking” plans.

John McDonnell, the new shadow chancellor, yesterday confirmed his plans to pursue a Left-wing programme of renationalisation, which would mean Royal Mail and the railways being put back into public ownership. Under the new Labour leader’s plans for the railways, a third of franchises would be returned to public ownership by 2025, and routes would automatically become state-owned when contracts expired.

Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show Mr Corbyn’s plans for the railways would be “an ideological joyride”.

Ukip has argued that renationalisation would be impossible while Britain remains in the European Union, because Brussels dictates that all member states must allow for competition from independent companies.

Mr McLoughlin has said Labour’s railway plans would cost the taxpayer billions of pounds.

The new shadow chancellor has described George Osborne’s ambition to run a budget surplus as “just barmy” and named Karl Marx’s Das Kapital as the book that has most influenced him.

Mr McDonnell, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, also described the sale of the Royal Mail and Royal Bank of Scotland shares as “complete rip-offs”.

Mr McDonnell told The Observer: “If you have an economic surplus, you are taking it out of the productive economy. So it’s just barmy.”

He denied that he and Mr Corbyn were “deficit deniers”, but said that to understand the capitalist system, it was necessary to read Marx’s works.

Following the news that Diane Abbott MP and Mr Corbyn reportedly had a relationship in the Seventies, Mr Corbyn’s former wife, Prof Jane Chapman, has claimed a “hostile” Miss Abbott told her to “get out of town” after their five-year marriage.