Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said such a “hike” would be “brutal”. The Labour MP said: “Ahead of a tough Christmas, people across this country are paying the price of Tory inflation.”
Haigh added that since the Conservatives entered government the price of commuting from Dewsbury into Leeds has risen more than three times faster than pay.
She asked Shapps if that was reasonable, addressing him directly: “Will he rule out the brutal 3.8 per cent hike in rail fares rumoured for millions of passengers next year?”
Shapps said Dewsbury “benefits much more” from the integrated rail plan than the original HS2 plan, adding that Haigh was "right about inflation, of course, but it is a global post-pandemic issue, rather than specific to this country, and that’s why the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a series of measures, including a big uplift in the living wage of 6.6 per cent, outclassing even inflation".
Haigh replied: “Rail passengers...