Montgomeryshire MP Steve Witherden has backed a campaign to reopen closed rail stations and lines, as a new poll shows seven in 10 Brits support using all savings from ending rail privatisation to cut fares or open new rail services.

Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, has tabled an amendment to the Railways Bill that would create a department within Great British Railways to explore options to reopen stations closed since the 1960s.

The MP is currently campaigning for the reopening of the Carno Station in Powys.

His support comes as a poll, commissioned by public ownership campaign group We Own It, and carried out by Survation, reveals that 7 in 10 Brits believe the government should use all savings from ending rail privatisation to cut fares or open rail services.

51 per cent of those polled say they would be more likely to use the railway, rather than another form of transport or not travelling at all, if rail fares were reduced by between 25 per cent and 33 per cent, for example with a new national railcard available to all passengers across the network.

The government has said that ending rail privatisation would save £150 million a year in fees alone.

Figures by the rail union, the RMT, suggest savings from ending rail privatisation could be as high as £1 billion a year.

Campaigners say using these savings to cut fares can create a “virtuous circle” in the railway.

The new poll also shows that 57 per cent of the public want the government to nationalise rolling stock.

We Own It is working with MPs including Mr Witherden on amendments to the government’s Railways Bill to secure fares cuts for passengers, end to private rolling stock, create a stronger role for passengers in GBR and (re)open rail services in un/underserved areas.

Mr Witherden said: “Railway privatisation has proven to be a colossal failure, which the government is addressing with the creation of Great British Railways.

“New polling now shows that the public wants us to go further.

“My amendment to the Railways Bill will give MPs a tool to push for more services and stations in their constituencies, by legislating for the creation of a department that restores provision to underserved areas.

“If passed, this government will be known as one that finally put control of our railways back into public hands.”

Johnbosco Nwogbo, lead campaigner at We Own It said: “What these important polling figures reveal is that cutting fares for passengers can create a virtuous circle in the railway.

“Cutting fares enables and incentivises more people to use the railway, which in turn would grow rail revenue, in turn providing scope for investment in capacity expansion, enabling the railway to serve even more people and communities.

“The publicly owned railway is the vehicle for economic growth the government has been looking for and it can be their number one tool for fighting the climate crisis as well.”