The following letter appeared in the Observer today calling for public ownership of the railways. It has been signed by 31 Labour candidates in target seats who represent a broad spectrum of political views across the party. We reproduce it in full here. Rail fares in Britain are contributing to the cost-of-living crisis, with season […]
Posts Tagged ‘Public Ownership’
State ownership of rail is only the start
May 1st, 2014 by Michael Meacher.As the 31 Labour parliamentary candidates are demanding in their letter to Miliband, the case for returning rail to the public sector after the botched privatisation of 1996 is overwhelming. Private ownership has produced for the UK the highest fares in Europe, extensive overcrowding on commuter lines because of giving priority to dividends for shareholders […]
Share:
Energy system needs fundamental reform, not just Ofgem tinkering
Feb 28th, 2014 by Dave Watson.Ofgem got out of their pram yesterday to complain about Labour and Which? criticisms of their ‘fundamental reforms‘ to the energy market. They said: For the Labour Party and Which? to dismiss Ofgem’s fundamental reforms is to misunderstand the barriers to competition that we have identified and are tackling. In fact Ofgem’s reforms go further […]
Share:
2014: the year Miliband’s Labour turns left?
Jan 4th, 2014 by Thomas Butler.In 2014, Ed Miliband and his colleagues need to understand once more the reasons The Labour Party came into fruition. And they need to articulate a clear, radical alternative to Tory Austerity with a vision of a post neo-liberal Britain that appeals to swing voters, but also many of those ‘don’t knows’ and stay at […]
Share:
The case for public ownership
Dec 5th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The public’s demand for re-nationalisation is steadily growing, partly because the record of privatised companies has been so poor, partly because the excuse of globalisation is now seen not to betoken greater efficiency but rather funnelling increasing assets to the very rich and undermining job security for workers, and partly the big new outsourcing companies […]
Share:
Is Britain being held to ransom by trans-national companies and billionaires?
Nov 5th, 2013 by Mark Seddon.If you cut through the hysteria currently being generated by the Murdoch echo chamber that is the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail whose hatred of trade unions knows no bounds, there is a stubborn truth that no amount of air-brushing will do away with. It is that Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of the […]
Share:
Tell Sid… we want our energy back
Oct 25th, 2013 by Grahame Morris.Government Ministers have tried to justify the undervalued sale of the Royal Mail as a return to popular capitalism.It has been nearly thirty years since the Government’s “Tell Sid” campaign helped launch the privatisation of British Gas. We will never know if Sid bought any shares but one thing is for sure, if he is […]
Share:
Talking Tosh on public ownership – the speech of the week
Sep 26th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.“Talking Tosh”, as Billy Hayes (moving the Communication Workers Union motion against privatising Royal Mail) said immediately after this outstanding speech, has acquired an entirely new meaning. Tosh McDonald, Vice-President of train drivers’ union ASLEF, received a much deserved standing ovation for an off-the-cuff contribution, seconding a motion in support of the public ownership of the […]
Share:
The public wants rail, water, energy re-nationalised, and it needs doing
Sep 19th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.The latest figures show that a season ticket, including tube travel, from Woking in Surrey to central London cost £3.268 last year. A similar 22-mile journey in Italy from Velletri to Rome cost just £336. In France the 24-mile journey from Ballancourt to Paris costs £924. The RMT argues that the vastly higher costs of […]
Share:
And another thing… time to take back water into public ownership
Jul 21st, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Did you know that two-thirds of our water companies are owned by foreigners? Does it matter? Well, yes it does. They can major on water supplies in their own home country and neglect the UK arm of their business, they can fail to deal quickly or adequately with leaks in the UK even when it […]
