Berkeley fears a French-style set-up

A Labour peer has questioned the party’s support for public ownership of rail, saying he is “worried” that Britain’s railways could become like those in France.

Lord Berkeley, a former Eurotunnel civil engineer and opposition transport spokesman in the 1990s, spoke out at a Labour conference fringe meeting.

“I have a real worry about state ownership if it’s going to be like it is in France,” he said.

“I think the French railway system is the most inefficient, highest-priced, has a lack of creativity and more closures than everyone else has.

“And the fact that every railway worker is going to be a state employee, and sometimes they have the drivers retire at the age of 60 on full pay, I’m sure that’s not the example we want to be following.”

Train drivers in France can, in fact, retire at 52, compared with between 60 and 65 in Britain. And their pensions are based on (but not equal to) the salary in their final six months of working.

Labour transport spokesman Tan Dhesi told Lord Berkeley to “rest assured, we will not be taking the worst practices from others”. He said Labour would instead seek to emulate the best practices of state-owned railways across the world.