Rail fares, holiday visas, housing and pensions

Commuters spend more than a tenth of disposable income on annual rail season tickets, a BBC investigation has found.

Figures also show some commuters pay almost 40p per mile of railway while others pay 11p per mile. Campaigners for better railways said people were ‘astonished’ so much of their income was going on travel. Train operators say rail travel is better value for money than running a car. The Government said it had capped rail fares in line with inflation. Holidays British holidaymakers could be forced to pay for visas to travel to Europe as a trade-off for the Brexit vote, the Home Secretary has admitted. The Telegraph reports that Amber Rudd said she could not ‘rule out’ the introduction of a scheme which would force those from outside the EU to pay for visas. The plan, currently being considered by EU nations, emerged over the weekend and, on Sunday, Rudd suggested that Britain could be prepared to accept visas as a price worth paying during the Brexit negotiations.