Transportation
Britain Debates Nationalizing Its Rail System
The Labour Party’s promise to end private ownership of rail services finds broad appeal across the U.K.
As Britain’s Labour Party closes the gap with its Conservative rivals in the June 8th general election, there’s at least one part of the party’s platform that’s widely popular: nationalizing the railways.
According to the party’s manifesto, a Labour government would end the outsourcing of passenger services to private companies, a practice that began in 1994. The idea might seem complex and expensive, but it has become a significant feature of Britain’s current election campaign—and it’s an idea that many U.K. citizens seem to like a lot: A recent survey found 52 percent of respondents favored renationalization, versus 22 percent against. That makes the idea currently more popular than the party that proposed it.