Power to the public sector

Public sector workers across Oldham could become their own boss under new Conservative plans, backed by Kashif Ali, the local Tory spokesman.

Mr Ali, prospective candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth, is backing David Cameron’s proposals to give public sector workers new rights to form employee-owned co-operatives to take over the services they deliver.

The new right would include JobCentre Plus offices, community nursing teams and primary schools.

Employee-owned co-operatives would continue to be funded by the state if they met national standards, but would be freed from centralised bureaucracy and political micro-management. Any financial surpluses would be reinvested into the service and staff.

Mr Ali said: “Public sector workers should have the chance to become their own boss.

“This could be the biggest shift of power from Government to the people since the right to buy your council house in the 1980s.

“This shows how Conservatives will give power to the public sector workers who are fed-up with Gordon Brown’s top-down control of their working lives.”