Jeremy Corbyn's plan to renationalise the UK's railways has met with a mixed response in Cumbria, with predictable responses from both side of politics.

Senior conservatives in the county are against the plan, pointing out that it could produce a return to what they see as the “bad old days” of British Rail. Labour politicians say there is huge public support for a renationalised railway.

Carlisle MP John Stevenson said: “Those of us who remember British Rail and the nationalised railway remember a poor quality service. It was disaster. Under privatisation, the quality of the service has improved.”

Mr Stevenson's Conservative colleague John Mallinson, who leads the Conservatives on Carlisle City Council, said: “I'm old enough to remember what British Rail was like before it was privatised. It really was dreadful.

“I just don't think that as a nation we are particularly good at running vast, state-owned companies like the railways. It's now a better service than before it was privatised, though it's almost a victim of its own success.”

Councillor Mallinson did accept that rail travel is now expensive but he said the faults with the sytem could be tackled by reforming the privatised system rather than scrapping it in favour of renationalisation.

But Councillor Les Tickner, deputy leader of the Labour Group on Carlisle City Council, said there is obvious public support for renationalising the railways.

He said: “This is an issue that crops up consistently when we are out campaigning on the doorstep. Despite pledges about the money that has gone into the service under privatisation, people's experience is that it's not okay.

“The investment has gone to the private sector.

“People harp back to British Rail and how badly it was run but people wouldn't put up with poor service now, and we have people with the skills to run it properly. As things stand, it's really hard to get consistency in ticket pricing.”

Addressing the annual conference of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union in Exeter, Mr Corbin said: "The next Labour government will introduce a Public Ownership of the Railways Bill to repeal the Tories' 1993 Railways Act that privatised our railways.

"We want our railways run in the public interest with fare rises capped, service levels improved and stations and trains safely staffed."

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT is delighted that Jeremy Corbyn, our long-term friend and comrade, has set out a vision for the transport industry in Britain that frees us from the profiteering and fragmentation of privatisation and which would allow the public to own and control the services that they rely on.

"That is a clean break from more than two decades of the privatised rip-off that has consigned Britain to the transport slow lane.

"The mood in the country has very clearly changed since the Tories called the general election.

"Cuts, austerity and privatised greed are on the way out and a Labour government with a programme dedicated to the many and not the few is waiting in the wings.

"RMT will do everything we can to make sure that that Government, committed to public ownership and workers' rights, arrives sooner rather than later."

The rail industry is facing another crucial few weeks, with fresh strikes and other forms of industrial action over driver-only operation, and a court case challenging the Government's handling of the Southern Railway franchise.

The Association of British Commuters will press its case for a judicial review at a hearing on Thursday, the same day that the drivers' union Aslef launches an overtime ban against Southern which will disrupt services.

The RMT is planning a series of strikes in the coming weeks against Southern, Merseyrail and Arriva Trains North.