If Labour want cheaper fares then getting rid of train staff is a good place to start

Another day, another uncosted bribe from Labour. This time, Corbyn is promising to slash a third off rail fares and allow children to travel for free. What wonderful, munificent people we have putting themselves forward to lead us. And of course, it won’t cost the taxpayer an extra penny because, as Labour’s transport spokesman, Andy McDonald, said this morning, it is all coming from a ‘repurposed’ pot of money – money raised through vehicle excise duty, which had been earmarked for road-building.

Except, of course, road-building is capital expenditure and subsidising rail fares is current spending. For all its guff about investing in Britain’s future, what Labour is proposing is a sly trick to rob investment spending and blow it on day-to-day spending. Fare cuts and free travel for the under 16s is not the only way that Labour’s renationalised railway would quickly run into trouble. The party is also proposing to put a guard on every train – reversing modernisations that began under British Rail in 1982.