SHADOW rail minister Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi promised train drivers today that a Labour government would bring railways back into public ownership.

The Labour frontbencher condemned the chaos of industrial relations and the failed franchise system under the Tory government at Westminster.

He told train drivers at Aslef's annual conference in Cardiff: “This Tory government has had more cancellations than a TPE (TransPennine Express) timetable. It is absolutely ridiculous.

“I know the Tories are advocates for driverless trains but I didn’t realise they were advocates of driverless government, driving into oblivion.

“We know the railways have such great promise: we have a plan to make Britain’s railways the best in the world, for passengers and for staff.

“We want to create a relationship of understanding and respect between government and railway, not a relationship of hostility and confrontation.

“In contrast to a lost decade of Tory government, we need investment in infrastructure fit for the 21st century as part of our mission for growth.

“We need an annual rolling programme of electrification. Not just London to Cardiff: what about the rest of Wales? 

“And we need an integrated transport structure — like the Swiss — integrating trains, buses, and trams.

“We will empower metro mayors — if it’s good enough for London, it’s good enough for the metro mayors — to devolve and empower communities.”

Mr Dhesi also told the annual four-day conference that Labour would enable disabled people to travel easily, safely, and with dignity, and ensure train drivers and rail staff are treated at work with respect.

He said: “I want to underline our commitment to bring Britain’s railways back into public ownership, although 25 per cent already is — and much of the rest is owned by state railways on the continent.

“During the pandemic we were calling for the railways to be brought back into public ownership — it would have been the perfect time — but, instead, the Tories nationalised the risk and privatised the profit.

“The current crisis was made in Downing Street by government ministers, but I sense this country is ready for change.”

Aslef president Dave Calfe urged members on Monday to “keep the high turnout, and our high mandate, for strike action and action short of a strike” by voting Yes in the ballot by the June 13 deadline in the union’s ongoing pay dispute.