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UK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of key industries since privatisation

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https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/16/uk-public-paid-200bn-to-shareholders-of-key-industries-since-privatisation-study

Northern Rail passengers protest over poor service in Manchester in 2019 Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Analysis reveals ‘privatisation premium’ of £250 per household per year paid to owners of water, rail, bus, energy and mail services since 2010

The public has paid almost £200bn to the shareholders who own key British industries since they were privatised, research reveals.

The transfer of tens of billions of pounds to the owners of the privatised water, rail, bus, energy and mail services comes as families face soaring bills, polluted rivers and seas, and expensive and unreliable trains and buses.

As a result, citizens have been paying a “privatisation premium” of £250 per household per year since 2010 alone, the analysis found.

Recent focus has been on the privatised water industry, which has run up long-term debts of £73bn and paid out dividends of £88.4bn in the past 34 years at the same time as overseeing record sewage spills, according to the latest figures.

But for the first time the thinktank Common Wealth has drawn together the haemorrhaging of billions of pounds to shareholders across four key sectors, most of which were privatised from the 1980s and 1990s by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government – energy, transport, water and mail.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/sep/16/uk-public-paid-200bn-to-shareholders-of-key-industries-since-privatisation-study

Continue ReadingUK public has paid £200bn to shareholders of key industries since privatisation

Jeremy Corbyn: This Labour government has failed. People want real transformative politics – we will give it to them

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Image of Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party
Jeremy Corbyn MP, former leader of the Labour Party

dizzy: I’ve only quoited small parts of this article. Recommended.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/29/jeremy-corbyn-labour-failed-politics-new-party

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Only a truly democratic party can provide the space for the policies that are needed to transform society. Up and down the country, there is huge appetite for an economic reset. One that brings water, energy, rail and mail into public ownership. One that invests in welfare, not warfare. One that ends this government’s complicity in genocide and brings about justice for the Palestinian people. One that makes the wealthiest in society pay a bit more in tax to ensure that everyone can live in dignity.

This is the political vision that can inspire hope, not fear. The great dividers want you to think that migrants and minorities are responsible for the problems in our society. They’re not. Those problems are caused by a rigged economic system that protects the interests of billionaires and corporations. By scapegoating migrants and minorities for its own domestic failures, Labour has paved the path for Reform UK. This Labour government is here to appease Reform. We are here to defeat Reform. We are at a critical juncture, and we need an alternative, now.

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Think of what we could achieve together.

The future we deserve is no pipe dream. Look around you, and you will find proof that a better world is possible. We are not fighting for crumbs. We are fighting for real change – and we are never, ever going away.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/29/jeremy-corbyn-labour-failed-politics-new-party

dizzy: I need to spend time on other projects for the next few years. We need left bloggers and social media activists. It’s a hard slog to get established but go for the long term. Teams of 10 or more would be ideal because you could share the work, maybe concentrate on your own area of interest. Suggest that you change passwords regularly and drop and replace people who don’t pull their weight. In a few years, ready for the next election, you should be kicking and taking on number 10’s influence and influencers reported in this article.

Continue ReadingJeremy Corbyn: This Labour government has failed. People want real transformative politics – we will give it to them

Campaigners demand full nationalisation of British Steel after government seizes control of Scunthorpe plant

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-demand-full-nationalisation-british-steel-after-government-seizes-control

A general view of British Steel in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, April 12, 2025

LABOUR has been urged to catch up with public support for nationalising services “just as strategically important” as British Steel.

Campaigners and unions have continued to call for the full nationalisation of the company after the government passed an emergency law on Saturday to seize control of its Scunthorpe plant.

The legislation was passed in a single day, empowering ministers to save the last plant making “virgin steel” direct from raw materials from imminent closure, as well as thousands of jobs.

But Labour’s action was likened to an expensive public bailout today amid growing calls for the government to stop the private sector from running other services into the ground.

We Own It founder and director Cat Hobbs said: “The government has sprung into action to protect British Steel as a strategically important industry, with nationalisation on the table.

“In 2020, Keir Starmer promised public ownership of rail, mail, energy and water — as well as ending outsourcing in our NHS and local government.

“These public services are just as strategically important as steel, as drivers of economic and social development.

“Since Thatcher’s sell off, many of our key public services have been handed over to foreign states, offshore funds and billionaires.

“If Starmer is looking to take back control of our economy, this would be a good place to start.

“The UK public overwhelmingly supports public ownership and it’s high time our government caught up.”

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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-demand-full-nationalisation-british-steel-after-government-seizes-control

Continue ReadingCampaigners demand full nationalisation of British Steel after government seizes control of Scunthorpe plant

Rail fares rise by 4.6% in England and Wales

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/mar/01/rail-passengers-england-wales-fares-rise

Rail fares in England and Wales are rising by 4.6% from Sunday and most railcards going up by £5. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Rex/Shutterstock

Campaigners say if government can find money to freeze fuel duty for motorists they can do similar for railways

Rail passengers in England and Wales face a steep increase in the cost of travel from Sunday, with fares rising by 4.6% and most railcards going up by £5.

The government said the rise is needed because of the dire financial state of the railway, but transport campaigners contrasted it with Labour prolonging the freeze on fuel duty for motorists.

This weekend’s fare increase is only the second time the government has raised fares above the rate of inflation since 2013 – the other being in 2021 when the Covid pandemic had stopped most rail revenue.

London Underground and other rail fares in the capital will also match the national rise, going up by an average of 4.6% across the network, although bus fares will be frozen.

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/mar/01/rail-passengers-england-wales-fares-rise

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RMT rejects ‘unacceptable’ offer from train operators in pay and jobs dispute

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/rmt-rejects-offer-train-operators-in-dispute-over-pay-jobs

RAIL bosses’ latest offer to end six months of strikes across the network was rejected today by the RMT union, which warned of “thousands of job losses and the use of unsafe practices.”

RMT condemned the “unacceptable” proposals from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the 14 train operators involved.

Talks continued today ahead of the next round of industrial action — a series of intermittent 48-hour strikes between next Tuesday and January 7.

Bosses claimed that their pay offer amounts to an 8 per cent pay rise by next year — still below soaring double-digit inflation — but the union pointed out that the deal is conditional on damaging changes to working practices.

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Continue ReadingRMT rejects ‘unacceptable’ offer from train operators in pay and jobs dispute