The latest economic figures revealing a shock fall in construction output of more than 1% between April and May this year are alarming, but might be brushed off as an isolated quirk if all the other evidence pointed the other way. But it doesn’t. The construction slowdown is matched by an unexpected slump in factory […]
Posts under ‘Infrastructure’
Fall in construction output shows Osborne “recovery” has lost momentum
Jul 15th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.
Publicly owned railways, not just right but popular
Jul 8th, 2014 by Diane Abbott.As the National Policy Forum in Milton Keynes draws nearer, all eyes are on Labour’s policy formation process. Left Futures has discussed bringing back rail into public ownership before. But it is worth returning to the subject because it illustrates everything that is wrong about the way that our party currently makes policy. We know […]
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Why won’t Ed Balls nationalise the railways?
Jul 7th, 2014 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.If you were to glance at this headline, you might think Labour is tearing itself apart over rail renationalisation. It isn’t, but that the bulk of members and supporters think the rail should be taken back into public ownership reflects its popularity in the wider population. Pretty consistently, over half of the electorate would like to see this […]
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Why is Labour now fighting shy of nationalisation?
Jul 6th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.It is bizarre that the Labour Party, or at least Ed Balls, is now tying himself up in such contortions to avoid renationalisation of the railways at any cost when the polls constantly show 70-80% of the electorate, which must include a very large number of Tories, is demanding just that. Is the Labour Party, […]
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Labour will inherit a crisis, not a recovery
Jun 27th, 2014 by Michael Burke.At a certain point in the next few months the recession in Britain will officially be over as the real level of GDP will finally exceed its previous peak in the 1st quarter of 2008. The media coverage will be generally very favourable, in the hope that this will boost the Tory vote and vindicate the […]
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The sharks are circling Scottish Water
Jun 4th, 2014 by Dave Watson.Scottish Water is a public corporation that delivers a publicly owned water and sewerage service to the people of Scotland, unlike the privatised service in the rest of the UK. It’s a model that has served Scotland well, delivering clean fresh Scottish water to homes and businesses and removing sewage along some 60,000 miles of […]
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HS2 still in the air
Apr 30th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.Despite what might seem like a crushing Commons majority of 450-50 in the Commons last night in favour of HS2, the whole project is very far from settled. There are good reasons for this. One is that the Commons, like a local planning authority, is faced with a single choice – take it or leave […]
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Blairites, Valls and Renzi, offer little hope for Eurozone
Apr 23rd, 2014 by Michael Meacher.Valls and Renzi, the new prime ministers of France and Italy respectively, have made clear their respect for Blair and their intention to follow his example. That’s bad news for the Eurozone and for the EU in general. Blairism is not an economic ideology, but rather a style of leadership that is far more about […]
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Royal Mail fire sale costs taxpayer £1.4 billion
Apr 15th, 2014 by Grahame Morris.The Royal Mail served the nation for over 500 years; however a Government fire sale not only privatised this prize asset but also short changed the public. Last week, the National Audit Office (NAO) delivered a damning report showing that the Government’s rush to privatise the Royal Mail cost the taxpayer £1.4 billion.
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Video: How to change the post-crash economy
Apr 8th, 2014 by Newsdesk.Hosted at the RSA by the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) and Verso books, an expert panel including Costas Lapavitsas – professor of economics at SOAS, Paul Mason, Culture and Digital editor, Channel 4 News; Mariana Mazzucato, RM Phillips professor in the Economics of Innovation at Sussex University; and Seumas Milne, Guardian columnist […]
