An open letter to Sir Keir Starmer on public ownership
1. Public ownership is popular
In Starmer's pamphlet, he talks with conviction about the values that, for us, sit behind strong public services working for people not profit.
We know that these policies resonate with people:
- 64% of us want the railways to be in public ownership
- 69% want the Royal Mail in public ownership
- 52% want energy in public ownership
- 63% want water in public ownership
- 84% want our NHS fully in public ownership
- 55% want to see services run in-house by councils
- 55% want buses in public ownership
- 62% want prisons in public ownership
- 64% want social care in public ownership
2. Public ownership can help Labour tackle key challenges
In your #Fabians pamphlet you talk about how in government ‘A failure to actively shape and strengthen the economy means that vast potential is being wasted.’
You explain that ‘a Labour government would provide a level playing field, a skilled workforce and a modern infrastructure, from transport to public services.’ Public ownership can help to achieve these goals.
3. Public ownership saves money
Privatisation costs more because it means spending money on shareholder dividends and the higher cost of borrowing in the private sector (the government can borrow more cheaply). Creating artificial markets where they don’t belong also often creates wasteful fragmentation and duplication.
4. Public ownership can give people more control
In 2019, we responded to Labour’s consultation on democratic public ownership with a report ‘When We Own It: A model for public ownership in the 21st century’.
5. Public ownership is a common sense policy
https://weownit.org.uk/blog/open-letter-sir-keir-starmer-public-ownership
#WeOwnIt #Labour #UnitedKingdom #Privatisation #PrivatisationFails #democracy #PeopleNotProfits #CorporateTerrorism #PublicServices #PublicOwnership
