Saturday, November 15, 2014

Let’s Make Public Ownership the election deal breaker

How can we make Public Ownership the election deal breaker in Britain in 2015? The CPO's Neil Clark explains how in his new Morning Star column:

IN the Morning Star last month I looked at what the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour and Ukip had to offer us in relation to public ownership. Or to be more accurate, what they didn’t have to offer us.
Another five years of the present coalition — or a Conservative majority government — will mean the end of the NHS and see the sell-off of the remaining assets in public ownership, including Britain’s main trunk roads. 
So, if you do want to see Richard Branson or some other billionaire capitalist in charge of the M1, as well as rail routes, hospital services and the Met Office), our publicly owned woodlands flogged off to the highest bidder and our libraries either closed or run by US multinationals, then simply vote Conservative or Lib Dem. 
Labour has edged away from the neoliberal policies of Tony Blair but while its support for a publicly owned rail operator is a step in the right direction, the party is still a long way away from the progressive stance it took on public ownership before Blair became leader in 1994. 
Ukip, while stating that it would oppose the pro-privatisation TTIP, has made no pledges to renationalise anything — a stance which is surely at odds with their claim to be the “People’s Army.”
Well, that was the “Big Four” — but what of the others? 

You can read the whole piece here.