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Polls

Survation Poll: 58 percent think rail privatisation has been a failure

6th January 2017 | Polls

A Survation poll for We Own It finds:

• 58% think rail privatisation has been a failure
• 28% think it has been a complete failure
• Only 1% think it has been a complete success
• Nearly half (48%) believe fares would be lower under public ownership
• Only 13% think fares would be higher under public ownership

Rail privatisation has been a failure Fares

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Unilad Poll: 93 percent support re-nationalisation

17th August 2016 | Polls

An online poll for Unilad shows 90+ % support the government re-nationalising the railways.

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Mirror Poll: 92 percent support re-nationalisation

16th August 2016 | Polls

An online poll of Mirror readers shows 90+ % support the nationalisation Britain’s railways.

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YouGov Poll: 66 percent support re-nationalisation

4th November 2013 | News / Polls

A poll published today by YouGov shows that 66% support re-nationalising the railway companies while 23% think they should continue to be run privately. 68% of the public say the energy companies should be run in the public sector, while only 21% say they should remain in private hands.

Support for nationalisation

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Sunday Express Poll: 60 percent support re-nationalisation

21st October 2012 | News / Polls

This poll by the Sunday Express shows six out of 10 voters want the railways re-nationalised.

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Guardian Poll: 93 percent support re-nationalisation

4th October 2012 | News / Polls

An online poll by the Guardian today shows that 93% of respondents say the railways should be re-nationalised.

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MSN User Poll: 75 percent support re-nationalisation

4th October 2012 | News / Polls

An MSN User poll of 6,000 people today showed 75% in favour of the re-nationalisation of Britain’s railways.

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GfK Poll: 70 percent support re-nationalisation

3rd September 2012 | News / Polls

A poll of 1,000 members of the public carried out by research agency GfK National Opinion Polls, showed that 70% think UK rail should be returned to public ownership.

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PoliticsHome Poll: 51 percent support re-nationalisation

2nd July 2009 | News / Polls

This poll by PoliticsHome carried out after news broke of the re-nationalisation of the East Coast rail line reveals that a 51% of voters would like the UK’s railways to be fully re-nationalised.

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Your Views

  • The rationale for selling off a national asset – that “competition” would lead to better services and lower prices – has proved to be faulty. Give it back.

    Shellie Eyre, Nottingham

  • I know BR wasn’t perfect, but what organisation is? It had been starved of cash by successive governments. There’s more subsidy now but worse performance.

    Steve Thorpe, Hastings

  • British Rail.

    Stuart Niblo, Exmouth

  • I regularly travel on Cross Country. Compared to East Coast, the trains are overcrowded, noisy, a poor service and often blocked toilets. Profit has been put before people.

    Peter Hay, Darlington

  • Any profits from the rail system should go into the public purse, not the bank accounts of fat cat parasites. Get the railways re-nationalised.

    Eric Sykes, Sheffield

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Bring Back British Rail and We Own It
3 days ago

๐Ÿ“ฃ Last chance to email your MP before our Tug of War: Passengers vs Profiteers event this Weds ๐Ÿ‘‡
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TUG OF WAR: Ask your MP to make sure the Railways Bill delivers for passengers, not profit

weownit.org.uk

We are organising a tug of war on Parliament Square next Wednesday 15th April and weโ€™d love your MP to be there.
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Bring Back British Rail and We Own It โ€” attending an event.
4 days ago

Want a railway run for people not profit? ๐Ÿš† Join the Tug of War: Passengers vs Profiteers in Parliament Square this ๐—ช๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฑ ๐—”๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น, ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฎ:๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿฑ โœŠ We're raising awareness for the key problems with the #RailwaysBill & promoting the amendments aimed at resolving them ๐Ÿ“œ ๐—ช๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ฃ ๐Ÿ‘‡ @top fans
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TUG OF WAR: Ask your MP to make sure the Railways Bill delivers for passengers, not profit

weownit.org.uk

We are organising a tug of war on Parliament Square next Wednesday 15th April and weโ€™d love your MP to be there.
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Bring Back British Rail
2 months ago

We welcome West Midlands Railway being brought back into public ownership today ๐Ÿฅณ But, if control over these lines is devolved to the Mayor of the West Midlands in the future, there is nothing in the current #RailwaysBill to prevent re-privatisation ๐Ÿšจ Heidi Alexander for Swindon South and Keir Mather MP must sort this! @top fans ... See MoreSee Less

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Bring Back British Rail
3 months ago

This week the Railways Bill, which will establish our new publicly-owned #GreatBritishRailways, enters Committee Stage at the UK Parliament ๐Ÿš† The fight is now on to ensure the Bill actually creates a fully-integrated railway that is run in the public interest โœŠ Read more ๐Ÿ‘‡ @top fans We Own It
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This week the Railwa
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Bring Back British Rail
4 months ago

It's that time of year again... Fancy some Bring Back British Rail campaign merch? ๐Ÿš‰ Order by the end of Tuesday 16 Dec 2025 to receive in time for Christmas๐ŸŽ„๐Ÿ‘‡
๐Ÿ›’ bringbackbritishrail.org/support
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— bringbackbritishrail

    Petition

    We are the collective voice of disgruntled rail passengers and disheartened train employees, demanding a re-unified national rail network run for people not profit.

    Sign the petition now and join 54355 other supporters.

    Bring Back British Rail

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    54,355 signatures

    Our Supporters

    • Something as important and necessary (and enjoyable) as train travel should be in the hands of the people, be affordable and safe, not making money for shareholders.

      Nina Power, writer

    • In 1948 Labour nationalised rail to rebuild Britain after a world war. Today bankers and speculators use privatised trains for tax scams. Time to bring back British Rail.

      Alex Gordon, former RMT President

    • Like most people in Britain, I think that a railway is a natural function of the state, and so ought to be run by the state – for the sake of coherence, transparency, continuity, accountability and national pride.

      Andrew Martin, writer

    • Transport is an essential public service and ought to be publicly owned and publicly controlled. We need an enormous expansion in the investment in our railways and that is the best way of achieving it.

      Tony Benn, politician

    • At its heart privatisation in Britain was never about selling public networks but about selling the rights to tax those who are obliged to use them.

      James Meek, writer

    • Privatisation has delivered… a system in which train operators and energy firms compete not on service โ€“ but on how many tariffs they can bamboozle customers with.

      Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian

    • If the private companies that took over the national railways are cutting back and eroding services at a time when the climate crisis demands expanded low-carbon transportation alternatives to keep more of us out of planes, then these services too must be reclaimed.

      Naomi Klein, writer

    • Privatisation of the railways has failed. Its time to make a virtue of public ownership, and the public service provided by state employees.

      Charles Secrett, The ACT! Alliance

    • Now is the moment to re-nationalise the railways and it has never been cheaper or more possible.

      Andrew Gilligan, journalist

    • Only a publicly owned railway can deliver affordable fares, good services, high customer satisfaction, properly staffed stations and a profitable return to the public purse.

      Charles Secrett, The ACT! Alliance

    • Let’s make the case for democratic social ownership, fit for the 21st century, ensuring our railways are run in the interests of passengers, not profiteers.

      Owen Jones, writer

    • Privatisation is only progress, if you mean progressing towards an apocalypse of injustice. Bring back British Rail!

      Josie Long, comedian

    • A good public transport system should be the foundation of a fair, just, happy, low-carbon world.

      Ellie Harrison, campaign founder

    • To be able to reduce C02 emissions, by persuading people to leave cars at home, we need a fast, efficient subsidised railway system that’s run for people not profit!

      Ellie Harrison, campaign founder

    • Taking our railways back from private profiteers will mean better services, fairer rail fares and more than ยฃ1 billion a year in savings for the public purse.

      Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP

    • The UK public wants a publicly owned railway, and so do we. Lush calls for an end to the failed experiment of privatising essential services.

      Tamsin Omond, Lush Campaigns

    • The privatisation of the railways was a scandal that created an unworkable and expensive structure which should be replaced with a national unified network.

      Christian Wolmar, transport commentator

    • Research into privatisation… boils down to one key finding: the only way Branson and the vast majority of train barons make their profits is through handouts from the taxpayer.

      Aditya Chakrabortty, The Guardian

    • There is no good excuse left for rail privatisation beyond enriching wealthy elites. Public ownership delivers for social and environmental needs over private profit.

      Professor Andrew Cumbers, University of Glasgow

    • East Coast shows us that publicly owned rail works better for passengers and taxpayers. We need a railway fit for the future – it’s got to be in public hands.

      Cat Hobbs, We Own It

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    Bring Back British Rail is coordinated from Glasgow by Ellie Harrison, with the help of a small network of volunteers around the UK.
    The campaign operates as a ‘non-charitable campaigning body’ and so is free to carry out political activity and act as a pressure group.
    It aims to be a completely autonomous and transparent passenger-led organisation, which has no direct affiliation with any political parties.
    Accounts | Privacy Policy | Press & Media Enquiries: info@bringbackbritishrail.org

    Bring Back British Rail logo / identity designed by Fraser Muggeridge. Website by Neil Scott.