This was covered in The Star, which you can read here.

After confirmation last week that train fares will rise by 2.8% in January 2020, research by Labour has revealed that the price of Sheffield-Manchester and Sheffield-Leeds season tickets will have increased by 35% and 39% respectively by 2020, from their level in 2010 when the Conservatives came to power.

A Sheffield-Manchester season ticket, which cost £2,920 in 2010, is projected to rise to £3,939, whilst a Sheffield-Leeds season ticket is set to rise from £1,940 to £2,693. The figures were revealed as part of research by Labour on the cost of over 180 train routes between the Conservatives coming to power in 2010 and the projected new prices that will be implemented in January 2020. The average commuter will now be paying £3,067 for their season ticket, £873 or 40% more than in 2010.

Lots of local people commute to work in Manchester and Leeds. Massive fare increases of nearly 40% since 2010 are unfair when earnings have risen by just 14%.  Building a northern economy to rebalance jobs and wealth from London needs investment in our rail network to make journeys much quicker, more reliable and affordable.

As well as being unfair, these price hikes damage the northern economy and undermine efforts to tackle the climate emergency by pricing people off the railway. The research comes as an IPPR report released yesterday indicates that the Government’s spending plans see London receive nearly three times as much spending per person on transport than the North.

The government has sat back and allowed private train companies to cash in while people’s pay has been held back. Labour will cap fares and bring our railways into public ownership, so they are run in the interests of passengers and not private profit.