Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2019
Mr Mason clearly does not understand how rail services actually work. The services that are delivered on the ScotRail network would continue to be devolved to this Parliament. The decisions would be made by this Parliament on what services the company provides here in Scotland. That is how things work at the moment. Obviously Mr Mason has not noticed that rail services actually cross borders and do not stop at Gretna. That is why we believe in public ownership across the whole of the UK, not a continuation of private firms in England.
Even members who do not support public ownership must see that the current franchise is just not working. When it comes to the vote later today, members will have a clear choice between putting passengers first and continuing to put the profits of the privatised utilities first by allowing this failed franchise to continue.
My motion makes clear whose side Labour is on. We are on the side of the staff and their trade unions: the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, ASLEF; the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, the RMT; and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, the TSSA. They all back Labour’s motion today because they have had enough of Abellio’s mismanagement and the Government’s inaction. We are on the side of Scotland’s hard-pressed commuters as they face the misery of delays, cancellations, overcrowding and fare hikes. Labour is on the side of passengers, not the private profiteers fleecing those passengers.
I call on Parliament to back the motion when we come to vote.
I move,
That the Parliament believes that the Scottish Government should not extend the current ScotRail franchise beyond its first expiry date in 2022.
15:56