SIR – I fail to see or share D S Boyes’s vision of the UK under a Labour Government.

There is no plan to renationalise the railway network – discussion is occurring on whether to let the franchises run out and to run them in the same way as the highly-successful East Coast line, which was taken back into public ownership at the request of the franchise company, who had failed to run it profitably.

We do not have a privatised rail network – they are subsidised to the tune of £4 billion a year of taxpayers’ money.

The rail network needs to be freed from the dead hand of the Treasury. The old British Rail network failed because the Treasury neglected to invest the profits back into providing a good service. Conservative governments were in power for most of this time, so don’t blame Labour for the deterioration in rail services.

Ian Parsons, Alexandra Road, Eccleshill, Bradford