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Let's talk nationalisation

(53 Posts)
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Lazigirl Sun 11-Jun-17 18:32:21

The irony of it is Maisie that many of our rail companies are State owned. Problem is the States that own them and earn profit from them are Dutch, German and French.

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MaizieD Sun 11-Jun-17 11:40:00

And, as a matter of interest I'll throw in this link to an independent report on Rail privatisation called 'The Great Train Robbery'

hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/cresc/sites/default/files/GTR%20Report%20final%205%20June%202013.pdf

(You'll never guess what conclusions they came to wink)

For myself, I could remind CJ that when the East Coast main line was temporarily run by the state, when a franchisee dropped out, it was reported as enjoying high levels of passenger satisfaction (as a fairly frequent passenger myself I can vouch for them) and returned a profit to the Treasury.

I don't think that the UK rail system will ever be 100% perfect, but at the moment it seems to be more of a mess than when it was privatised. If it's a profitable mess I'd like to see those profits going to the state, not to shareholders.

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MaizieD Sun 11-Jun-17 11:28:54

While the dust is settling from the GE it could be time to look perhaps a bit more calmly at some of the issues.
I suggest we start with rail nationalisation as CardiffJaguar has raised it as a bit of a derailer (sorry) on another thread. I quote their post.

CardiffJaguar Sun 11-Jun-17 08:21:51

Now I have started something it seems. Take nationalisation as one example of past mistakes. Looking at Southern Rail as it is today it is very reminiscent of the problems of BR during the time it was government owned and run. the decision to put rail out into privatisation was a desperate move by government to get rid of a problem they could not resolve. The privatisation was botched and rail is still costing the taxpayer yet public ownership failed. There are many lessons to be learnt about what not to do in the future.

Also, GG2 has responded so I'll quote that too

GG2

Cardiff, just one point (initially), although there are many. After 1945, the Labour government nationalised key industries, such as railways, steel and electricity. I wonder how many years it would have taken to take these industries forward after the war if it was left to "the market". Some industries require long-term investment to improve services over time. This long-term investment may not be profitable in the short-term, so without government intervention they may suffer from lack of long term - or what seems to be currently called 'slow' investment.

There was a long period - up to Thatcher - when there was a consensus between the parties that a mixed economy - some government run, some privately run - would work for this country. The far-right then decided to change things. This does not mean they were right.

Anyone, apart from me, want to take it from here?

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