If the sale goes ahead, the Eurostar stake will have been sold just two years after it began making a profit, the UK earning a GBP 7.4M (USD 11.14M) dividend last year on Eurostar profits of GBP 52M (USD 78.27M). This has come following a decade of steadily increasing passenger numbers following a disappointing initial uptake in the 1990’s, and dividends are expected to further increase.
Chancellor George Osborne said that the cash injection from the sale would secure Britain’s future, as it allows him to make a dent in the national debt. Which stands at GBP 1.4 trillion (USD 2.11 trillion). With annual interest payments of about GBP 43bn (USD 65bn).
Mary Creagh, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said: "Eurostar is a national strategic asset that is set to grow and to return increased profits to the UK taxpayer with new routes to Geneva, Lyon, Marseille and Amsterdam.
"After the staggering incompetence of the Royal Mail sale fiasco, which lost taxpayers GBP 1bn (USD 1.5bn), people will worry that this is yet another rushed and undervalued sell-off. Lord Myners is still conducting his review into government privatisations after Royal Mail, and ministers should await his report before any sale begins.
"The National Audit Office should urgently conduct a value-for-money inquiry before this sale proceeds. We must ensure that taxpayers are not ripped off again by bungling ministers and poor financial advice from the City."
Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union added: "George Osborne, because of his outdated belief in unvarnished Thatcherism, is once again selling off the family silver for short-term financial gain. The reason that France and Belgium already own the majority stake in Eurostar is that they believe in running a publicly owned railway for the benefit of everybody."
Mick Cash, leader of the RMT rail union, said: "This is a gross act of betrayal of the British people by a right-wing Government hell-bent on selling the family silver."
The Government has announced a target of GBP 20bn in sales from a campaign of privatisation up to 2020.