‘This is a kick in the teeth for hard pressed people’-Brutal hike in train fares announced.

Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham has slammed the Government’s decision to force up train fares by 5.9% in 2023.

Mr Cruddas told the Havering Daily: “This is a kick in the teeth for hard pressed local people.  The brutal hike in train fares announced just before Christmas represents the largest rise in more than a decade.

Commuters on national rail will face season ticket prices that are 58% higher than when the Tories came into government in 2010.”

Margaret Mullane, Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Dagenham and Rainham strongly criticised the increase: “This is a sick joke for the thousands of local passengers using Rainham and Dagenham Dock stations. Households will be clobbered with a near-record rise in the eye-watering cost of the daily commute. This comes on top of soaring taxes and bills.

What is clear is that local people are paying the price for 12 years of Tory failure. I just wonder what planet government ministers are on if they think people can afford this kind of fare rise at this time when families are struggling to make ends meet.

The privatization of our railways has been a disaster not just for commuters and passengers in general, but for the nation. I look forward to the day when we can bring railways into public ownership rather than being owned by foreign companies as is the case in so many instances now. ”