SS: Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, is one of the favorites to topple Starmer. Burnham has suggested that a programme of mass renationalisation would be at the centre of his policy platform if he succeeds Keir Starmer as prime minister.
Speaking to [Channel 4](https://www.theguardian.com/media/channel4) News, Burnham said the “deindustrialisation and privatisation” of Britain had left areas like Makerfield “without good jobs and people unable to afford the basics.”
He said: “We need a different path completely. What is that path? Put more things back under stronger public control: energy, housing, water, transport.
“I’ve done that with buses in Greater Manchester. I was the first to do it. Margaret Thatcher deregulated them … and then they just work for the private shareholders and not for the paying public.
This is relevant to British politics and public policy.
_m1000 on
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when British taxpayers are given the bill for all investment in utilities, public healthcare, and pensions, combined with a renewed spending on defence, executed with Europeans regulatory standards and resurgent unions of all kinds.
People might look back on this period as the high point a few decades from now.
uwcn244 on
Not that I trust any British party to do this correctly, but I think as a policy matter he’s right. I am 100% against private monopolies, and the private water monopoly in England and Wales is almost unique in the world. What exactly is the reason for maintaining them?
hypsignathus on
Is water supply typically private in the UK? That seems quite strange to me.
Most, but not all, is public in the US. TBH I’m in favor of public utilities. I don’t mind so much private suppliers *to* the utilities, as of course there are always contractors and suppliers and such, but I do tend to be biased towards public control of the water supply (drinking and waste treatment). Shared resource, environmental concerns, etc.
pabloguy_ya on
I don’t think it was right to privatise water but idk if nationalising it won’t just be cost with no real benefit… Energy privatisation seems to have gone better
Desperate_Wear_1866 on
Idc what happens to water, but energy shouldn’t be nationalised. The government will piss away the money on more unsustainable and wasteful welfare and neglect it’s investment obligations.
What it needs to be doing is encouraging more private investment through tax incentives and deregulation. Britain’s already has a good green energy sector and that needs to be juiced up as much as possible.
6 Comments
SS: Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, is one of the favorites to topple Starmer. Burnham has suggested that a programme of mass renationalisation would be at the centre of his policy platform if he succeeds Keir Starmer as prime minister.
Speaking to [Channel 4](https://www.theguardian.com/media/channel4) News, Burnham said the “deindustrialisation and privatisation” of Britain had left areas like Makerfield “without good jobs and people unable to afford the basics.”
He said: “We need a different path completely. What is that path? Put more things back under stronger public control: energy, housing, water, transport.
“I’ve done that with buses in Greater Manchester. I was the first to do it. Margaret Thatcher deregulated them … and then they just work for the private shareholders and not for the paying public.
This is relevant to British politics and public policy.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when British taxpayers are given the bill for all investment in utilities, public healthcare, and pensions, combined with a renewed spending on defence, executed with Europeans regulatory standards and resurgent unions of all kinds.
People might look back on this period as the high point a few decades from now.
Not that I trust any British party to do this correctly, but I think as a policy matter he’s right. I am 100% against private monopolies, and the private water monopoly in England and Wales is almost unique in the world. What exactly is the reason for maintaining them?
Is water supply typically private in the UK? That seems quite strange to me.
Most, but not all, is public in the US. TBH I’m in favor of public utilities. I don’t mind so much private suppliers *to* the utilities, as of course there are always contractors and suppliers and such, but I do tend to be biased towards public control of the water supply (drinking and waste treatment). Shared resource, environmental concerns, etc.
I don’t think it was right to privatise water but idk if nationalising it won’t just be cost with no real benefit… Energy privatisation seems to have gone better
Idc what happens to water, but energy shouldn’t be nationalised. The government will piss away the money on more unsustainable and wasteful welfare and neglect it’s investment obligations.
What it needs to be doing is encouraging more private investment through tax incentives and deregulation. Britain’s already has a good green energy sector and that needs to be juiced up as much as possible.