Medway Commuters battered by Tories

But will Tories still deny the truth?

The news today that Medway commuters are to be fleeced by Conservative supported increases in train fares takes the proverbial biscuit as many residents struggle with cost of living.

The average employee in Medway, who unlike some Kent MPs do not have subsidised rail travel, are struggling with huge increases in fares.

The Conservatives - who campaigned openly against train fare rises - should be utterly ashamed that they have not only undertaken a massive u-turn but they have taken fares to an entirely new level.

The Evening Standard revealed tonight that some fares could peak £10,000 by 2015.

A great train robbery which will price huge numbers of low and medium-paid workers off the rail service.

In October 2010, the Campaign for Better Transport undertook a survey which revealed that Conservative plans to rise fares were both unpopular and politically dangerous. The lobby group revealed that 74% of commuters would change their vote on the basis of unacceptable rises in train fares.

The Campaign for Better Transport also revealed that an average ticket to Gillingham will cost £5,236 by 2015.

Medway Labour have consistently opposed the Conservative rises in train fares. We submitted a full motion to Council in 2010 and have campaigned at train stations.

The Tories have made a political choice to cut the deficit at pace. A decision which is both reckless and clearly hitting the buffers. As growth stalls, unemployment stagnates and real term wages decline v the cost of every day items.

It is folly that the Tories have cut the rail grant at the same time as increasing fares bite. Especially as workers face wage freezes.

The Conservatives have ignored the hard pressed tax payer. On crime, on the NHS, on the economy, on transport, on the climate - they are simply becoming more out of touch with the lives of every day people.

In addition to huge increase in fares, Medway residents will also have to pay at least £592-a-year for an annual Tube pass which is also set to go up with inflation-busting rises.

"With the cost of using the Underground, the cost of travelling into London to work is set to break through the eye-watering £10,000 mark,"

Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle.

"For many the cost of getting to work is now the biggest single item in the monthly budget, bigger even than rent or mortgage payments. It cannot be right that people are expected to spend a such a high proportion of their income just to get to work."

She committed Labour to opposing the Government's decision for regulated fares - which include commuter, season and saver tickets - to rise by RPI inflation plus three per cent for the next three years.

Annual season tickets from Norwich to London are due to hit £8,395 by 2015, Bournemouth £6,962, Canterbury £5,556, Winchester £5,288, Oxford £5,268 and Guildford £3,743, according to the CBT.

Enough is enough.

The Conservatives are on the wrong track. It is time to read the signals and engage in an abrupt platform change.