Labour’s rail reform plans remain a work in progress

It’s taken longer than getting a 100-year-old locomotive into steam, but at last the Labour Party has produced a document setting out its policy on rail.

That in itself is something of a miracle. The government in waiting has produced very little by way of policies on any of the important matters that it might have to deal with at some point later this year, so to choose to issue a statement on rail suggests this will be a keynote policy in the forthcoming hustings.

Forget (for the moment) the detail, which is fine but rather underwhelming. The media coverage of the announcement shows why the Labour leadership allowed this statement to be issued. The statement emphasises the fact that the railways are being renationalised, and this was widely picked up by the media.