A “rival operator” in the sense of route duplication seems utterly pointless. Assuming finite capacity and demand for tunnel crossings, that’ll mean halving the customers for each operator carries, reducing opportunity for economies of scale, increasing complexity for ticketing etc. Unless there’s some suggestion that Eurostar is price gouging (and they’re hardly wildly profitable compared to other operators) it won’t do much.
What we do need is more diverse routes with different destinations (so that not everything is a transfer at Paris or Brussels). There probably is capacity for that, but Eurostar (and other operators who have dipped their toes in) have generally concluded that the demand isn’t there to make the routes sustainable (at any price).
If anyone is wondering, these aren’t (really) new pledges, they’re just a voter-friendly glossy repackaging of material that they’ve already published in greater detail elsewhere. So for anyone saying “this is all so vague, what does it all mean?”, you can dive into the full detail at the links below.
The website for all their policies is here:
https://labour.org.uk/missions/
The high-level mini-manifesto is here:
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Lets-Get-Britains-Future-Back.pdf
There are specific policy packs on each of their areas too.
The economy:
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Mission-Economy.pdf
Energy:
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Make-Britain-a-Clean-Energy-Superpower.pdf
NHS and related:
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mission-Public-Services.pdf
Crime:
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Mission-Safety.pdf
Education and related:
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Mission-breaking-down-barriers.pdf
I think everything in these new “pledges” was already in the policy documents above with the possible exception of the “Border Security Command” thing, which is compatible with what they already announced but with a different name and a slightly different spin. That was announced properly last week, and the press release for it with a bit more detail is here:
https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labours-immigration-and-border-policy-stop-small-boats/