POLITICAL dogma is once again flying in the face of common sense as East Coast rail is set to be re-privatised.

Two-thirds of the British people want railway companies to be in the public sector, according to a YouGov poll last year. No-one can pretend that pushing East Coast rail back into private hands is driven by public demand.

The privatisation of public transport has been a debacle from the start. Deregulating the buses has left councils unable to reduce car traffic because they no longer control an alternative.

Rural bus services have disappeared, while councils are held to ransom by bus companies who can threaten to scrap services unless they receive bigger subsidies while, at the same time, hiding information about passenger use on the basis of commercial confidentiality.

It isn’t as if we have benefitted in terms of cost; buses and trains are more expensive in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.

In spite of handing a billion pounds to the Treasury since being put back into public ownership, the successful East Coast rail has embarrassed the Government and must be handed over to another leech on the public purse.

No wonder the rich are getting richer.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York.