In today’s online edition of The Argus, a local resident was quoted in the letters page describing the ‘further deterioration of train services from Brighton, now only served by Southern and Thameslink’.

When commuters and infrequent rail users alike see their fares hiked year upon year, with wages stagnating, the cost of living biting and inflation soaring, it is not unreasonable for the residents of Brighton & Hove to expect train services to improve, not get worse.

Labour Councillors feel the need to ask where the money from those increased fares are going, because clearly it’s not being invested into the services customers rely upon.

Southern Rail is unfortunately a perfect example of the utter failure of the great privatisation experiment of successive Conservative Governments, who’ve never laid eyes on a vital public service they wouldn’t like to rip out of public hands and put to work spinning a profit for shareholders in the private sector, to the detriment of those who actually need said service.

Brighton & Hove are fortunate in a sense to be represented by 2 Labour MPs – Lloyd Russell-Moyle in Brighton Kemptown and Peter Kyle in Hove – who regularly raise the plight of commuters and rail users in parliament. However, sadly their powers are limited as opposition MPs, as is ours as Labour Councillors in this area. What is needed is a Labour Government to transform our rail services once and for all.

Our residents cannot afford another year of hiked fees and slashed services. Frankly, our residents cannot afford another moment of Conservative rule.