Transport chief’s brutal dig at hen run Tory over prepare fares
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander gave a spiky response to her Tory counterpart, Richard Holden, after Rachel Reeves announced she was freezing rail fares in last week’s Budget
Labour’s transport chief has delivered a savage dig at her Tory rival after the Government froze rail fares in the Budget.
Heidi Alexander lashed out at Richard Holden, who made a “chicken run” from the north to a seat in Essex shortly before the general election. In the build-up to last week’s Budget, Mr Holden wrote to Ms Alexander calling on her not to raise fares by more than the Retail Price Index (RPI), which is used to measure inflation.
Instead Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced there would be no fare rise – the first time that has happened in three decades. Responding to Mr Holden, Transport Secretary Ms Alexander accused him of effectively proposing a 4.8% hike.
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And in a brutal jab at the shadow Transport Secretary – who stood in Basildon and Billericay rather than a northern constituency when his North West Durham seat was abolished – Ms Alexander wrote: “I appreciate that you will have spent a considerable amount of time travelling the country in the run-up to last year’s General Election.
“I’m pleased that train travel all across the country – whether that’s in your old constituency of North West Durham or in your new constituency of Basildon and Billericay – will now be substantially lower thanks to the action Labour has taken.”
In a letter to Ms Alexander last week, Mr Holden said fares had gone up by 5.9% while the RPI was at 12.3% under the Tories. And he urged her not to allow rises above the current RPI rate of 4.8%.
In response Ms Alexander wrote: “You will be familiar with the Conservative’s abysmal record on rail fares: under your party, fares rocketed by 60% and passengers were left to pay more and more every year. However, in your letter, you appear to boast that – when Liz Truss crashed the economy sending inflation to over 12% – raising fares by only half of that was somehow a favour to hardworking passengers?
“To be clear, a 6% hike in rail fares during a cost-of-living crisis that was caused by Conservative failure is something to apologise for, not brag about.” And she said that a 4.8% fare rise would have cost people with a Basildon-London annual season ticket an extra £179.
Ms Alexander wrote: “After years of relentless fare hikes, that’s not something the Labour Government was prepared to accept.” Ms Reeves said freezing rail fares “will ease the pressure on household finances and make travelling to work, school or to visit friends and family that bit easier.”
There was anger among Essex Tories last year when Mr Holden – then the party chairman – was offered up as the only candidate for Basildon and Billericay, which was considered a safe seat.
His previous constituency, 300 miles away, was abolished in a boundary review. A cabinet member last year said it had “gone down like a bucket of cold sick”. He won the seat by just 20 votes last July.
