Unfair Fare Increases

I can only assume that he is making the political point that the real change he wants is a change of government.

I met with Mr Barker when he first launched his campaign against the fare increases and we agreed that they were unacceptable. As a Parish Councillor in Etchingham, on that rail line, I know it affects many of the people living here. I also agreed to promote what I understood to be a cross party campaign, through the network of local councils.

I can further agree that there has been a distinct worsening of service since it was recently put back to a fully private company after the improvements brought about by the effectively nationalised Southeastern, following the failure of Connex.

However, I cannot see that Gregory Barker has put forward any solution to fare increases other than requesting a subsequent decrease.

The national rail network receives four times as much investment than it did when it was fully nationalised. It is worth noting that when the taxpayer pays for improvements to roads it is called investment, when it is for improvements in rail it's called a subsidy.

Revenue should now be returning to the Government, i.e. the taxpayer, by way of premium payments for franchises. However the complaint is being raised by the private train operating companies that passenger numbers are down and the premiums too high. We are in a vicious circle. As services become less efficient, less pleasant to use and more expensive it is inevitable that user numbers will fall. We should also add to this the increase in the number of job losses in the south east due to the recession.

Gregory Barker has to be reminded which Government was in power when the rail network was denationalised. Even though Maggie Thatcher had said it was a step too far to privatise, it was his party which saw through denationalisation and without a proper system of fare regulation. This was clearly acknowledged by a conservative colleague in the recent commons debate.

When motorists complained about the rise in petrol prices, the government froze fuel duty increases. Liberal Democrats are now calling for a rail fare freeze to help struggling commuters.