Virgin Trains to stop stocking The Daily Mail over the paper’s stance on LGBT issues
The company has said the paper is 'not compatible' with their beliefs
Virgin Trains has stopped carrying Daily Mail papers over its stance on LGBT issues.
The train company, which connects London Euston to cities such as Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Blackpool, Liverpool and Birmingham, has officially stopped stocking the Daily Mail.
According to IBTimes, the move comes after employees voiced concerns over the paper’s stance on issues such as LGBT rights, immigration and unemployment.
Virgin Trains announced the reason for the move in an internal memo last year which read: “Different viewpoints are often valuable, and it’s certainly true that we choose to take our news from different sources depending on our view of the world.”
“Thousands of people choose to read the Daily Mail every day. But they will no longer be reading it courtesy of VT [Virgin Trains]. There’s been considerable concern raised by colleagues about the Mail’s editorial position on issues such as immigration, LGBT rights and unemployment.”
It continued: “We’ve decided that this paper is not compatible with the VT brand and our beliefs. We won’t be stocking the Daily Mail for sale or as a giveaway.”
A Virgin Trains spokesperson said: “We regularly review the products we have on sale for customers onboard our trains, and after listening to feedback from our people we have decided that we will no longer stock copies of the Daily Mail on services on our west coast route.”
In response, a Daily Mail spokesperson called the decision “disgraceful” and claimed it was motivated by political factors.
A spokesperson said: “It is disgraceful that, at a time of massive customer dissatisfaction over ever-increasing rail fares, and after the taxpayer was forced to bail out Virgin’s East Coast mainline franchise – a decision strongly criticised by the Mail – that Virgin Trains should now announce that for political reasons it is censoring the choice of newspapers it offers to passengers.
It is equally rich that Virgin chose to launch this attack on free speech in the ASLEF trade union journal. For the record Virgin used to sell only 70 Daily Mails a day. They informed us last November that to save space, they were restricting sales to just three newspapers: the Mirror, FT and Times.
“They gave no other reason, but it may be no coincidence that all those titles, like Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson, are pro-Remain.”