JOHN REDWOOD has explained his views on nationalising the railways.

Mr Redwood, the Conservative MP for Wokingham, posted a string of tweets describing what happened last time the railway was nationalised.

He wrote: “What happened to the railway industry when fully nationalised?

“There was no shortage of investment for much of the period & plenty of subsidy.

"Yet season ticket prices rose every year in real terms as the railway struggled to get enough revenue to keep up w/ fast growing costs.

“There were many rounds of redundancies & job losses, many fare rises & a permanent failure to reverse the decline of rail use for passengers & freight.”

Mr Redwood added rail companies currently fail to retain and keep customers.