Angry Jeremy Corbyn reminds Branson of rail nationalisation plans

Jeremy Corbyn has reacted angrily after being repeatedly asked about his public row with Virgin Trains, and reminded the company’s boss, Sir Richard Branson, of Labour’s pledge to renationalise the railways.

Corbyn faced several questions over his account of sitting on the floor of a “ram-packed” Virgin service at an event on Wednesday to launch Labour’s health policies in London.

He repeated the explanation his allies gave on Tuesday night, saying: “I boarded a crowded train with a group of colleagues; we journeyed through the train looking for places; there wasn’t a place for all of us to sit down, and so for 40 minutes or so we remained on the floor of the train, in the vestibule.” He explained that a sympathetic train manager later found seats for him and his team, including his wife, by upgrading other passengers.

Asked again by a Sky journalist about what had been rapidly dubbed #traingate on Twitter, Corbyn initially refused to answer. “Can we have an NHS question?” he asked crossly. But he went on to say: “Yes, I did look for two empty seats together to sit with my wife, so I could talk to her.”

Corbyn added that he hoped Branson was “well aware of our policy, which is that train operating companies should become part of the public realm, not the private sector”.

Labour’s leader was drawn into a row with Virgin Trains after the rail operator disputed his account of being forced to sit on the floor of a crowded train, releasing CCTV footage of him apparently walking past free seats before the video was shot.

Jeremy Corbyn sits on floor of overcrowded train

The Labour leader also commented on remarks by his leadership rival, Owen Smith, who appeared to suggest at a rally in Hammersmith, west London, on Tuesday night that a “lunatic” was in charge of the party. Smith said: “What you won’t have from me is some lunatic at the top of the Labour party.”

Corbyn said: “I deplore the use of that language in any context. I don’t use it myself, and I will not use it today.”

Corbyn was speaking alongside the shadow health secretary, Diane Abbott. The pair launched a series of policies, including a pledge to restore nurses’ bursaries and to attempt to buy hospitals out of costly private finance initiative contracts.

Student nurse Danielle, introducing Corbyn, said: “To take away the bursary will not only deter students, it is one of the most insulting things I have seen this government do since they came to office.”

Corbyn said: “I cannot accept that in Britain, the fifth biggest economy in the world, we do not have the resources to look after our fathers, our mothers and our grandparents.” He promised to “restore the NHS”, saying Britain was a “country of compassion”. It was unclear how the policies would be paid for – though Abbott said an increase in corporation tax could fund the restoration of nurses’ bursaries.

Smith had earlier said that despite the Traingate row, Corbyn had made an important and legitimate point, and he echoed the Labour leader’s call for the renationalisation of Britain’s railways.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about whether he believed the story given by Virgin Trains and Branson, Smith said: “Well I’m not quite sure what the Corbyn version of events is because I think it changed a couple of times yesterday, but what is clear from the footage that I have seen is that he had a seat on the train and there were seats on the train and he chose to sit on the floor for the purposes of the video.

“But I do think he was trying to make a legitimate point and trains are overcrowded and I think we should nationalise them in order to try and make sure that they serve the British people rather better.”

Angry Jeremy Corbyn reminds Branson of rail nationalisation plans

France attacks "ailing" NHS and claims it has much better roads and rail

In extremely undiplomatic language, the embassy dismissed claims that its government oversees “absurd amounts of inefficient public spending”.

It compares France’s well being services, which it claims is the very best in the world, to the “ailing” NHS which has suffered from many years of underinvestment.

It says: “France’s public paying is based on a diverse tradition of public solutions. Take overall health as an illustration.

“Years of underinvestment forced the Blair government to allocate large sums of cash to the NHS, and the recent government has had to ring-fence funding for this ailing institution.

“In spite of all this, troubles stay the mid-Staffordshire, Morecambe Bay and Colchester scandals illustrate how widespread problems in the NHS are. The French program, by comparison, which is completely totally free of charge came leading of 191 nations in the Planet Well being Organisation’s rankings for total overall health care. France also gives twice as a lot of hospital beds per citizen as the United kingdom.”

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, mentioned: “We may possibly face stiff competitors from the French on cheese &amp wine, but there’s a purpose the NHS helps make us more proud to be British than any other institution.”

The embassy goes on to criticise Britain’s infrastructure. “Equivalent success exists in infrastructure, from high-pace rail to power,” it says.

“France has usually sought to attain higher efficiency and will carry on to do so in spite of potential spending budget cuts. Clearly, when you reside in France – from well being to infrastructure and energy costs to transport – you get more bang for your euro.”

Dominic Raab, a Conservative MP, stated: “The histrionic response of the French Ambassador only magnifies the increasing sense of Gallic insecurity commentators speak about.

“There’s a explanation London is now the sixth greatest French city, and that’s because an increasing quantity of French workers recognise their socialist experiment has failed. ”

The embassy’s intervention follows an report in the City A.M. newspaper which mentioned that France’s financial “sickness” was the solution of an “overbearing state [and] horrendously substantial tax amounts.”

François Hollande, the French President, last month authorized a 75 per cent tax fee for the highest earners, regardless of criticism that it would lead to an exodus of productive businessmen and girls.

However, the embassy claims that the French tax method is “fundamentally more redistributive” than Britain’s.

It also suggests that middle income earners face reduce tax rates, with those earning far more than £32,011 in Britain paying 40 per cent in contrast to a 30 per cent charge in France for these earning up to £59,0000

It says: “France’s redistributive program is a political and social selection and one for which the French government requires complete accountability.”

The City A.M. column also suggests that France has a “generalised hatred of commerce”. In response, the embassy says that the strong trade relationship amongst Britain and France means that Anglo-French relations are “unaffected by any generalised hatred”.

The embassy says the criticism “misreads the two the real predicament in France – which remains the world’s fifth greatest economic system and quantity two in Europe – and the seriousness with which the French government has set about reforming the country”.

France attacks "ailing" NHS and claims it has much better roads and rail