Brexiteer calls for UK to buy Eurostar and rename 'Britstar'

A very quiet Eurostar departures area in London St Pancras International railway station - Credit: PA

A Brexiteer has encouraged the UK government to buy the Eurostar business from the French – and to rename it ‘Britstar’.

Eurostar, which operated more than 50 daily services before the pandemic, revealed in November it is “fighting for its survival”.

The firm has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, with a 95% fall in passenger numbers.

It is running just one daily train in each direction between London and Paris, and between London and Amsterdam via Brussels.

Eurostar is 55% owned by French state rail company SNCF.

The UK government sold its stake to private firms for £757 million in 2015.

SNCF chief executive Jean-Pierre Farandou told France Inter radio this week that “the situation is very critical for Eurostar”.

Prominent Brexiteer Robert Oulds told the Express that it should be bailed out by the UK government, but that it should be renamed in the process.

“It needs to be saved. But we must take back control from the French,” the director of the Brudge Group said.

“We can call it Brit-star – or Brit Tunnel.”

Brexiteer calls for UK to save Eurostar – by buying it and renaming it ‘Britstar’