"Last week saw the train operator Chiltern Railways transferred back into public hands. This is just another step in this Government's commitment to return the railways to the service of passengers, not for the profit of private companies.

With trains running through stations in Leamington and Warwick, Chiltern Railways operates several busy lines to London, Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon.

For passengers using Chiltern's services, this will mean a new timetable from December that provides 25 extra services each weekday, including half-hourly service throughout the day on Chiltern Mainline between London and Birmingham, equating to 10,000 extra seats every weekday.

I have heard the call from constituents for a better and more reliable train service for too long. Passengers have been stuck with mind-bendingly complex booking and ticketing systems that have been designed to benefit private companies. When things have gone wrong, and trains have been cancelled or delayed – an experience I have had far too often – then train companies have outsourced and evaded accountability.

Through the Railways Bill, this Labour Government plans to set up Great British Railways (GBR) in 2027, which will bring together 17 different organisations, cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication and creating a single body accountable to passengers, freight customers and taxpayers.

In the meantime, passengers are already benefiting from new changes to ticket acceptance across different rail services. Since Sunday 20 September, if a passenger's train is cancelled, they can now transfer to another service run by a different operator to complete their journey at no additional cost.

This is a common-sense change to rail travel in our region and across the UK. It represents just one of the many improvements that this Labour Government is delivering to make public transport simpler, fairer and easier to use – ultimately putting passengers before profit.

Earlier this week, members of the Jewish community in our towns, villages and across the country observed Yom Kippur.

Download our Nub News App!

- It’s FREE and available now
- Breaking news notifications
- Your Town in Your Pocket

For those unacquainted with Jewish tradition, Yom Kippur marks the most sacred and solemn day in the Jewish calendar and translates to 'Day of Atonement'. It is a day to reflect on the past year and ask God's forgiveness for any sins.

I hope that the Jewish community had an easy fast and a meaningful Yom Kippur.

Lastly, I wanted to briefly comment on the group of masked individuals who gathered in Dover and Portsmouth earlier this month, under the organisation of the far-right group Patriotic Platform. This is a group led by Daniel Thomas (aka Danny Tommo), the former bodyguard of the far-right extremist, fraudster and violent criminal Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson).

Let me be clear, there is no place in British society for racism, intimidation and division. There can be no excuse for the threatening behaviour displayed by this group. That is why I have welcomed the Home Secretary's comments that the far-right and outright racist Daniel Thomas will face "the full force of the law" should his cabal of balaclava-clad men commit any crimes.

Reports of local residents, workers, ferry passengers and RNLI volunteers being affected by the incidents in Portsmouth and Dover have been deeply troubling. As a regular donor to the RNLI, I was saddened to learn that the Portsmouth lifeboat station was forced to close on Monday 7 September due to the risks posed by the far-right.

This is a deplorable situation, and I wish to remind those who are threatening and intimidating RNLI volunteers that: