Corbyns Inertia

Who was in power in 2013 when there were plans to privatise the courts?
Who wants to sell off NATS?
Who ripped off the public by selling Royal Mail in 2013?

Your selective memory is showing, Chewbacca.

The Labour party does not want to sell off anything to get into power.
If between 59 and 85% of the public want things brought back into public ownership, they would be foolish to do that, wouldn't they?

Please be kind enough to give me a list of utilities Corbyn could sell at the moment?

I am struggling to find any essential utility/service, apart from the NHS- that could be sold (and we all know the Conservatives are very actively undermining the NHS in preparation for privatisation and sell-off. Are you denying that that is the case btw?

Our commuters are paying for subsidies for passengers in the Countries where the owners of our passenger trains are - mainly European countries.
Foreign investment sounds great when the money us coming in but in the main is working against the UK population now.

Chewbacca. I really do not think your 'facts' are relevant to the current situation. I think you will definitely find that the privatisation of our essential utilities was by Mrs Thatcher.

But what is the point of bickering now as you say it yourself:

'That ship sailed long ago.'

too late... However, how to we go forwards into the future NOW is the point. Stop living in the past. Do you truly think Corbyn intends to sell the NHS, be it to the USA or the Chinsese- whoever offers us any kind of measly deal in exhange?

We are NOW CURRENTLY in a situation where all our main utilities, the ones we NEED TO LIVE - are in the hands of EU or other countries- and in a position where, in a conflict- and as an island (s) - find ourself in a siege, cut off - by prices, rationing or cut-off.

You can sing Rule Britannia from the top of Big Ben- or Nelson's Tower - it won't change that reality.

Electric and gas companies were sold off during Margaret Thatcher's time - I believe they count as Utilities.

Who is still selling off the NHS piece by piece?

British Rail was broken up and privatised between 1994 and 1997, and since then rail services in the UK have been provided by private companies. There are 16 rail franchises in the UK, where the government gives train companies funding to run services for a certain period.

Who was in power then?

I think you'll find I have been severely criticised by some on here for not voting for Blair, Chewbacca. In fact lemon was one of those who criticised me for not sticking with Labour through thick and thin - in another guise, of course.
And I have always objected to selling off our national utilities.

Who sold off British Gas? I don't think Blair was in power in 1990, or doesn't your memory go back that far?

Not to me it doesn't. What else would they sell off to raise a few quid if they get back in leadership? Not much left after their last session, is there?

Tory grandees like Hestletine have said that a labour government is preferable to Brexit.

It makes sense doesn’t it?

Well said Chewbacca ......some posters don’t like to be reminded about what Labour did last time around!

Indeed I do have the cheek durham! My pointing out that our national utilities were sold off by the last Labour government was criticised for being "whataboutery", so why should I hold any due respect for you posting a 4 year old media link?
Labour were in power for 13 long years and, in that time, sold off anything of national value. Did you object at that time? Did you vote them in? Did you voice your concerns then that our national utilities should remain ours? If you did, and you weren't heard or listened to, what does that tell you? What does Corbyn intend to do to bring them back under our control?

The company which owns the pipeline now is Ineos, which is mentioned in the link I gave, Chewbacca.
Think about it. It was previously owned by BP which sold it to Ineos.
Can anyone find out who owns Ineos?

Anyway, you have a cheek to complain that my link was four years old when you are talking about Blair and Brown selling off our utilities. That was surely over four years ago, wasn't it?

Does anyone else remember that there was a problem with the oil pipeline coming into the North East earlier on this month?
Russia is shipping in oil for us until it gets fixed, I think.
The pipeline is from the Norwegian field in the North Sea, I think.

weownit.org.uk/how-to-nationalise-regionalise-localise

This isn't, Chewbacca, but you haven't bothered to read it, have you, no matter how many times I put it on the thread, because you really don't want to take back control of our utilities, do you?

Try this Chewbacca
The UK parliament has the power to decide how much to compensate water company shareholders; what is a fair level of compensation. Any decision about compensation should take account of how little water companies have contributed since privatisation:
They’ve increased debt from zero in 1989 to a mountain of £42 billion today and used debt to finance investment
They've kept the overall level of shareholder investment about the same - in fact equity has dropped slightly (see the graph from the National Audit Office below)
They've extracted profits of around 12% - £1.8 billion - year after year
They pay the CEOs of the 19 water companies huge amounts - £10 million in 2012
They've increased our bills by 40% in real terms
Bringing water into public ownership would save us £1.8 billion a year on shareholder dividends alone. So, if we compensated shareholders for £18 billion, this proposal would pay for itself in around 10 years.

And while we are at it Water was sold off in the first place by Mrs Thatcher
Water privatisation was undertaken in 1989 by the government of Margaret Thatcher which partly privatised the ten previously public regional water authorities (RWAs) in England and Wales through the sale of assets. The regulatory arm of the RWAs, including pollution control and water resource management, was hived off to the newly created National Rivers Authority.

What difference does that make Chewbacca- as relevant as ever, and even more so due to Brexit.

That was 4 years ago durham.

weownit.org.uk/blog/grip-privatisation-our-vital-services-has-be-broken

A brief reading of this thread makes me think that Labour selling off our utilities under Blair and Brown is a prime bit of 'whataboutery It's not "whataboutery", its fact. It is a fact that during the Bliar and Brown years our national utilities were sold off to the highest bidder. The now owners of those businesses are making a handsome profit,which is exactly the reason that they bought them for. Surely you're not so naieve to believe that they were bought for altruistic reasons are you?
So what do you suggest? Should the present government buy them all back, so that we "have control"? How much would that cost now do you think, even assuming they'd be up for sale? Do you really think, for one minute, that Corbyn would/will buy them back if he was in government? Your time for protesting about the sale of our national utilities has gone. That ship sailed long ago.

Ah, but it's all Corbyn's fault, obviously.
I am surprised you do not realise it!

Did you see Chris Williamson's Christmas message?

I do think it is quite funny that all those who keep posting about how awful Corbyn is and how he has a communist agenda fail to realise that their utilities are already firmly in the hands of what was a communist country. Nothing in '1984' can compare with today's reality.

A brief reading of this thread makes me think that Labour selling off our utilities under Blair and Brown is a prime bit of 'whataboutery'. Labour then subscribed to the same economic beliefs as did the tories and, sadly, became very much 'tory-lite'.

For better or for worse, it's a different Labour party now (and even mainstream economic thinking is swinging, slowly but surely, away from neo-liberal economics).

Staggering isn't it !?!

How can we ever 'get back control' when the very things we actually NEED to LIVE - are owned by people far away who can control us totally. They choose not to do so at the moment - but in a conflict, be it commercial or war- thex could hold us to ransom as in a siege. No electricity, no water, no gas.... does not bear thinking about.

www.li.com/activities/publications/public-opinion-in-the-post-brexit-era-economic-attitudes-in-modern-britain