Profit before people: SNP fail to act over public ownership of the railways

A taste of the pro business nature of the SNP-led Scottish Government was given to railway workers and service users with the news that Dutch state-owned Abellio are to be awarded the Scotrail franchise, rather than our trains being brought into the public sector and renationalised.

In a ludicrous development, a private arm of a public train company elsewhere in Europe will be allowed to run Scotland’s railways for profit while gaining subsidies from Scottish taxpayers. This goes against the overwhelming majority of public opinion which wants our railways and trains brought back into public ownership so that our transport is not run for profit, but to provide affordable travel alongside  good terms and conditions for the workforce.

The SNP now boast that their trade union group has mushroomed to 11,000 members since the referendum. However, this snub to the railway workers and train users indicates that the many working people who have flocked to the SNP since the referendum will be let down with what is still essentially a pro business party that is carrying out cuts and opposing public ownership.

While the powers of outright nationalisation may not yet reside with Holyrood, the franchise could have been brought into the public sector through a Not For Profit company established by the Scottish Government as a step to full public ownership. Indeed this could and should have already been set-up, given that the SNP have been in power for seven years. This would have ensured the ploughing back of tens of millions of pounds into the industry, while the powers of public ownership were being transferred. 

Indeed in 2006 socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan put forward a bill to bring railways back into public ownership in Scotland. Disgracefully only one Labour MSP and zero SNP MSPs supported this bill which was backed by the RMT union and had widespread public support.

Despite claims that public ownership is not possible due to Westminster and the EU’s overriding power, this is not the case. East Coast is a Not For Profit franchise which has run services for the past few years and a similar company could easily be set up by the Scottish Government. Because a public company would not need to maximise profits – but instead reinvest in improving the service – they could easily put in a superior bid to private companies to run the railways. 

It is clear that the only reason railways in Scotland are still being run for profit is because that is the status quo which both Labour and the SNP support in practice.

In an RMT union press release on the issue, the RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“It is scandalous that just a few weeks after the referendum, and promises from all quarters that the Scottish people would have an increased say in every aspect of their lives, that the continued privatisation of Scotland’s railways has been bulldozed through with the SNP colluding with the political elite in Westminster to deny the opportunity for this franchise to be brought back into public ownership.

There is no question that this whole franchising process could and should have been halted, pending the ratification of the post referendum devolution settlement, instead of rushing headlong into a deal that will deny the Scottish people ownership and control of their railways for many years to come. RMT has legal advice confirming that this process could have been suspended, leaving the responsibility for this fit up firmly in the court of the politicians who promised one thing and then delivered the same old profiteering business model. 

RMT will continue the fight for public ownership with every means at our disposal. “