Privatisation has Failed. It's a No-Brainer - Public Assets should be Publicly Owned
This was published in the Edinburgh Evening News on January 8, 2024. The last line was edited out.
The Horizon-Fujitsu Post Office scandal is rooted in the UK government’s 2011 privatisation of a public service, the Royal Mail, that had been state-owned (in England) for almost 500 years.
Since the late 1970s, vital public services have been sold off to private companies because the government is in thrall to an ideology that prizes profit maximisation over people. The failing UK has zealously pursued this ideology to its natural conclusion – the complete collapse of public services and the immiseration of the people they’re intended to serve.
Essential services that people depend upon – health, water, energy, transport, mail, telecommunications – are now more expensive and less efficient in private hands because profits are creamed off and not re-invested.
The increasingly privately-run English NHS performs worse than Scotland’s health service. Private bus and rail services are more expensive and less reliable than public ones.
Private financing, pushed by New Labour, costs more and loads hospitals and schools with debt. On average, privately financed hospitals are 70% more expensive than publicly financed ones.[4]
Private English water companies routinely spew sewage into waterways, don’t invest in reservoirs or fix leaking pipes. Scottish Water, still publicly owned thanks to a 1994 referendum where 97.2% of Scots voted to keep water public, means Scots enjoy far cleaner and cheaper water, healthier rivers and cleaner beaches.
Private energy companies are reaping grotesque profits while citizens can’t afford to heat their homes. French and Norwegians pay much less for energy because their governments, unlike the UK, own their energy resources. In energy rich Scotland, Scots face the highest bills and Scottish renewables developers pay to connect to the private National Grid while their English counterparts are subsidised.
It’s a no brainer. Public assets should be publicly owned. The sovereign Scottish People must reassert their control by ending this failed union.