UK Transport Minister Chris Grayling has been lambasted for denying Scotland representation on the board of the new publicly owned London North Eastern Railway (LNER), which began running trains on the East Coast Main Line yesterday.
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Union chief Manuel Cortes said Scotland should have a seat at the table given that the line has more than 300 miles of track north of the Border and serves stations including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.
Cortes, who is general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), said: “It is typical of the pure anti-public sentiment held by privateer Tory Grayling that LNER will be running trains across Scotland without any Scottish representation on its board.
“But it’s also indicative that whatever Ruth Davidson thinks, Westminster Tories hold Scotland in contempt. Imagine taking East Coast back into public ownership and not even considering Scotland should have a right to a voice at the table.
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“The man’s not fit to run a bath let alone a railway.”
When LNER was announced, the TSSA and Scottish transport minister Humza Yousaf called for Scotland to have representation on the board.
Cortes said: “This is only fair. Scottish taxpayers fund the line and Scottish commuters and Scottish businesses rely on the trains to run on time. But it seems like failing Grayling is more interested in ‘jobs for the boys’ – appointing a former managing director of John Lewis and current Tory Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Stewart, to advise the board, but no-one from Scotland where the railway actually runs.”
“I am confident that Humza Yousaf is as frustrated as I am at the contemptuous way Grayling is treating the Scottish taxpayers and commuters and have no doubt that he, and passengers in Scotland, will back our repeated call for representation.”
He also called for Westminster to go further and give the Scottish Parliament a binding say over the future of services on the route.
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