To coincide with this week’s announcement of the rise in train fares, Labour has compared the costs on over 180 train routes between when the Conservatives came to power and the projected new prices that will be implemented from January 2021.

A passenger on the Norwich to London route will now be paying £8,779 for their season ticket, which is £2,587 or 42% more than in 2010. That means, in cash terms, Norwich – London commuters will have suffered the fourth-highest price rise since the Conservatives came to power.

Nationally, fares have risen two and half times faster than wages since 2010.

Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South said:

“The Conservatives have a lamentable record on local season ticket prices. For ten years they’ve priced thousands of passengers off our railway and pushed even more people into their cars. This has happened at the very same time as we need to rapidly reduce carbon emissions by increasing access to public transport.

We are in the midst of a middle of a triple health, economic and environmental emergency and, with passenger numbers down by 80%, rail is already in crisis. This is precisely the worst time to push ahead with yet another extortionate fare rise in January. Instead, the government should give passengers the publicly owned, not for profit railway they want and increase support for it until it gets back on its feet.”