Meacher’s attack on privatisation

Oldham MP Michael Meacher is urging his party to take a stand on privatisation,

The Oldham West and Royton MP said privatisation is not popular and amounted to “a customer rip-off and a bonanza for management and shareholders” that pushes up the cost of living for everyone else.

He said: “Train fares, electricity bills and petrol prices have all increased and the Tory rationale for privatisation is false. The public want rail, water and energy renationalised and the arguments for it are compelling.

“Passengers are paying more and more for season tickets; state subsidies since the railways were privatised have more than doubled.”

He added: “The record of other privatised industries is also remarkably poor especially in energy markets such as electricity, where wholesale costs have fallen 40 per cent since privatisation, but the consumer has only seen a 25 per cent cut.

That can be replicated elsewhere, notably in petrol prices. For very good reasons privatisation is not popular. Why doesn’t Labour exploit that?”