Jeremy Corbyn attends Kings Cross protest over rail fare increases as 62 per cent of commuters say they’d support train nationalisation

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Jeremy Corbyn was among a number of people protesting against the increase in rail fares at Kings Cross this morning.

The Labour leader paused for photos as the #RailRipOff campaign got under way, following the 1.1 per cent rail fare increase, which came into effect on 2 January.

He was joined by representatives of union TSSA, including general secretary Manuel Cortes, and Labour MPs Lilian Greenwood and Jonathan Reynolds. 

Further protests are taking place up and down the country.

Campaigners claim that UK commuters spend up to six-times as much on rail fares as passengers in France, Germany, Spain and Italy. 

New analysis published by Action for Rail today claims that the UK suffers the highest commuter fares in Europe – despite overcrowded and delayed services. We spend up to 13 per cent of our salary on rail fares, compared with just two per cent in Italy. 

A poll carried out by YouGov on behalf of the campaign group also found that nearly two thirds of users (61 per cent) thought train services were bad value for money, with 62 per cent believing poor services come at the cost of train companies making a profit. 

The same proportion of people would support bringing train companies back into public ownership, the poll said. 

Labour is supporting the campaign, claiming that under the Tories rail fares have risen by an average of 25 per cent. 

"The Tories can't admit it, but rail privatisation has been a failure," Labour said today, slamming the price of what it called "Tory tickets". 

In a separate campaign, Green mayoral candidate Sian Berry has today called for "fair fares", to introduce reduced fares for people commuting in from zones four, five and six and creating flat fares by 2025.