Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 03 February 2022
I would gladly have given way.
Our railways need new leadership. The decisions that the Government makes now will have an enormous bearing on ScotRail’s future. We are asking the Government and the Parliament as a whole for clarity on the way forward. Members should reject the agenda of service cuts, condemn rising fares, rule out compulsory redundancies and back collective bargaining. Let us work together to achieve a fully staffed, world-class ScotRail under public control.
I move,
That the Parliament welcomes the return of ScotRail to the public sector; considers the new public sector operator to be critical in securing modal shift and affordable, accessible and reliable rail services for Scotland’s passengers; condemns, therefore, the current plans for ticket office cuts and closures, service reductions, and the recent 3.8% increase in fares, which undermine progress towards net zero, modal shift and service improvement; considers that the new ScotRail, which will be under public ownership, must provide well-staffed, world-class services, and calls on the Scottish Government to rule out compulsory redundancies or any dilution of collective bargaining under the new operator, and further calls on the Scottish Government to reject tickets office cuts and closures and set out a timetable for restoring overall ScotRail services to pre-pandemic levels.
16:01