WREXHAM'S Labour MP Ian Lucas says he's delighted to have played a part in a Transport Committee recommendation that railways should be run by a single, publicly-owned agency, accountable directly to Government.

He hopes his committee's work will help reverse the privatisation of the railways, as the report has been welcomed by rail unions and Government alike.

He said: 'Our committee has produced a landmark report. If our recommendations are followed, it will mean the return of a publicly-owned, publicly accountable railway system, and I have campaigned for this since my election in 2001.

'The overwhelming body of evidence we heard concluded that rail privatisation has been a complete disaster and we need a single authority responsible for the railways.'

He added: 'At the moment there are three separate agencies, who can all blame each other when things go wrong. The present system cannot work.

'The committee considers that this single authority should be a railways agency, directly accountable to the Secretary of State.'

John Marek, leader of Forward Wales, said: 'Ian Lucas is a welcome convert to the policy of public ownership of the railways that Forward Wales has adopted from the outset.

'Labour said it would renationalise the railways, but once it came to power it did nothing to reverse Tory privatisation and halt the public subsidy to private businesses.'

He added: 'Now Mr Lucas has come clean on the matter of rail nationalisation perhaps he will consider rejoining the rail workers' union group in Parliament, which he left because he didn't agree with their policies.'

A spokesman for Forward Wales said: 'We're sure Ian Lucas's newfound zeal for radical change on the railways is in no way linked to the decision of the RMT railworkers' union locally to affiliate to Forward Wales.

'That unanimous decision by one of Labour's founding organisations signalled a massive symbolic shift in the way trade unionists view the Labour Party, which no longer represents the views of working people.'