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Thames Water under fire as leaks hit highest level for five years

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/thames-water-under-fire-as-leaks-hit-highest-level-for-five-years/

Campaigners have called for water to be taken into public ownership

Image: Richard Webb / Burst water main / CC BY-SA 2.0

Private water firm Thames Water is under fire once again after revelations that the rate of leaks from its pipes are at the highest level for five years. The news has sparked renewed calls for the three decade long privatisation experiment to be brought to an end.

Letters between the CEO of Thames Water Sarah Bentley and environment minister Rebecca Pow have been released under freedom of information laws and have revealed the scale of the company’s leakage problem.

According to the Guardian, Bentley told Pow: “Right now, we have the highest leakage rate since 2018. Consequently, we have already signalled to Ofwat that we are behind on our 2022/23 leakage performance and our target this year will now be very challenging to achieve.”

These revelations have been met with outrage by campaigners. Anti-privatisation group We Own It has reiterated their call for the water sector to be taken into public ownership.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/06/thames-water-under-fire-as-leaks-hit-highest-level-for-five-years/

Continue ReadingThames Water under fire as leaks hit highest level for five years

Labour’s biggest union backer calls on party to nationalise energy sector

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Image of cash and pre-payment meter key
Image of cash and pre-payment meter key

https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/labours-biggest-union-backer-calls-on-party-to-nationalise-energy-sector/

Kier Starmer will be urged to reconsider Labour’s policy on renationalising the energy sector this week by Labour’s biggest financial backer Unite the union.  

Billions could be cut from average household bills if the sector was brought back into public ownership, the union has argued, putting an end to the current system which has led to “rampant profiteering” by energy companies.   

Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, is to urge Keir Starmer to reconsider Labour policy on nationalising the energy sector since the party leader U-turned on previous plans to nationalise the energy, mail and water industries.

The Labour party has promised to renationalise the rail system and to create a new, publicly-owned clean energy company to push for green energy.

But average energy bills could have been cut by £1,800 last year if the sector was fully nationalised, saving bill payers £45 billion, which is the amount companies made in profit from the UK domestic energy system in 2022, the latest report by Unite has revealed.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/05/labours-biggest-union-backer-calls-on-party-to-nationalise-energy-sector/

Continue ReadingLabour’s biggest union backer calls on party to nationalise energy sector

Another incompetent profiteering train operator is brought back under public control

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/another-incompetent-profiteering-train-operator-is-brought-back-under-public-control

Unions reiterate calls to renationalise railways after TransPennine Express joins London North Eastern Railway, Northern, and Southeastern

THE government’s rail privatisation fiasco hit the buffers again today as yet another failed, profiteering operator was dumped and its operations taken under public control.

TransPennine Express (TPE) pocketed millions of pounds in taxpayer subsidies even as it cancelled one in six of its timetabled services leaving thousands of frustrated passengers stuck on platforms.

Almost a quarter of Britain’s rail services are now back under public control after failing miserably in the hands of privateers.

TransPennine, which is owned by First Group and operates coast to coast in northern England, joins London North Eastern Railway, Northern, and Southeastern services under public control.

ScotRail and Transport for Wales are run by the Scottish and Welsh governments.

Unions reiterated their calls for renationalisation of the whole rail network.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/another-incompetent-profiteering-train-operator-is-brought-back-under-public-control

Continue ReadingAnother incompetent profiteering train operator is brought back under public control

More than two-thirds of public think NHS is underfunded, including over half of Tory voters, poll finds

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/more-than-two–thirds-of-public-think-nhs-is-underfunded-including-over-half-of-tory-voters-poll-finds

NHS sign

MORE than two-thirds of Brits think the NHS in underfunded, including a majority of Tory voters, a damning new poll published today reveals.

The Opinium survey — commissioned by Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) — shows 67 per cent of all voters and 58 per cent of Conservative supporters want austerity-hit health services to receive more cash.

Nearly seven in 10 of the 2,000 adults consulted think the NHS is performing badly, with 55 per cent blaming Downing Street for the deterioration in services, which have also been hit by national strikes since December over plummeting take-home pay and worsening patient safety.

Close to three-quarters — 72 per cent — want the health service to be a “fully or mostly public service,” the poll also shows.

It came ahead of what is expected to be a massive national demonstration in central London on Saturday, when the more than 50 organisations involved in the KONP-founded SOS NHS campaign will gather to demand better.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/more-than-two–thirds-of-public-think-nhs-is-underfunded-including-over-half-of-tory-voters-poll-finds

Continue ReadingMore than two-thirds of public think NHS is underfunded, including over half of Tory voters, poll finds

That Nasty Neo-Con Starmer :: Why?

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There is huge aversion to the Conservative (Tory) Party in UK meaning that Keith Starmer’s Labour Party is likely to be elected at the next general election. This aversion to the Tories is partly due to successive worse than useless Tory Prime Ministers, Boris’s criminality, lying and cronyism, Brexit which has been catastrophic, trashing of the UK economy (partly due to Liz Truss’s catastrophic bonkers short term as Prime Minister and ill-judged budget), huge inflation and crippling fuel poverty caused by hugely increased energy prices. It is a growing recognition and acknowledgement that the Tories are shits destroying public services including the Health Service.

There is a real danger that Keir Starmer will get elected to government on a false prospectus. For exaample, the UK electorate understands the Labour Party to support the National Health Service (NHS) while Starmer and Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting are opposed to a publicly-owned NHS instead preferring the Tory policy of privatisation. Similarly, the Labour Party’s proposed GB Energy company is likely to be confused with nationalising energy companies which has huge popular support. But it’s not that.

Looking at Keir Starmer’s performance as Director of Public Prosecutions and as Leader of the Opposition can inform us how he’s likely to perform as Prime Minister. It looks as though it should be avoided.

later edit: To Labour Party members: There is an historic opportunity now to move away from Neo-Liberal politics. Why would you want to elect the Tory Keir Starmer as Prime Minister and does that achieve anything?

Continue ReadingThat Nasty Neo-Con Starmer :: Why?