This article, by CPO co-founder Neil Clark, appears on the The Guardian newspaper website.
The obscene commodification of a natural resource has gone on long enough, ripping off ordinary people
Here we go again. In the past 12 months, we've had significant hikes in our gas and electricity bills (not reversed by recent cuts due to a fall in wholesale prices) and above-inflation increases in train fares – which are already the highest in Europe. Now it's time for the water companies to put the boot in.
Ofwat has announced that average household water and sewerage bills in England and Wales are to increase by an average of 5.7% from April. As in the case with the rail fares, we're told that the reason that prices are rising is to enable more "investment" by the water companies. But a closer inspection is highly revealing.
You can read the whole article here.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Seumas Milne: It's not too late to save the NHS from the barbarians
This piece by Seumas Milne appears in The Guardian:
Unless decisive action is taken in the next few weeks, the National Health Service is heading for disaster. The battle over the coalition's plans to turn England's NHS inside out has been going on so long, the details are so arcane and claims of concessions so regular, it would be easy to imagine that the worst had been averted and common sense prevailed.
.... Cameron and Lansley insist they don't plan to privatise the NHS, of course. But that's exactly what's happening on the ground even before the bill hits the statute book. The first private company to take over an NHS hospital, the Tory-linked Circle Health, won the contract to run Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire in November, even as it admitted it may not be able to "provide a consistent level of service to its patients".
And the government has been in talks with international health corporations about taking over 20 more, while private companies are already running local doctors' services and preparing to administer the clinical commissioning groups of GPs due to take over the purchaser role in the coalition's new market model. Facts are being created on the ground.
You can read the whole article here.
Unless decisive action is taken in the next few weeks, the National Health Service is heading for disaster. The battle over the coalition's plans to turn England's NHS inside out has been going on so long, the details are so arcane and claims of concessions so regular, it would be easy to imagine that the worst had been averted and common sense prevailed.
.... Cameron and Lansley insist they don't plan to privatise the NHS, of course. But that's exactly what's happening on the ground even before the bill hits the statute book. The first private company to take over an NHS hospital, the Tory-linked Circle Health, won the contract to run Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire in November, even as it admitted it may not be able to "provide a consistent level of service to its patients".
And the government has been in talks with international health corporations about taking over 20 more, while private companies are already running local doctors' services and preparing to administer the clinical commissioning groups of GPs due to take over the purchaser role in the coalition's new market model. Facts are being created on the ground.
You can read the whole article here.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Neil Clark: Help fight fare rises and push for railway renationalisation
This piece by CPO co-founder Neil Clark , appears on the Guardian's Comment is Free website.
The latest price increases show Tory serial privatisers got it very wrong in the 90s. Join the protests to put things right
“Whichever way one looks at it, privatisation is a giant asset-stripping process. It is a very efficient way of taking money out of taxpayers' pockets". Gwyneth Dunwoody, the Labour MP who uttered those words during a debate in parliament on rail privatisation in February 1995, deserves some sort of posthumous New Year honour for calling it exactly right.
While Tory ministers claimed that selling-off the railways would bring "benefits to passengers and taxpayers", and scoffed at opposition concerns, the latest above-inflation price increases in Britain's rail fares – already by far and away the highest in Europe – shows once more that the serial privatisers of John Major's Conservative government got it very, very wrong.
You can read the whole article here.
The latest price increases show Tory serial privatisers got it very wrong in the 90s. Join the protests to put things right
“Whichever way one looks at it, privatisation is a giant asset-stripping process. It is a very efficient way of taking money out of taxpayers' pockets". Gwyneth Dunwoody, the Labour MP who uttered those words during a debate in parliament on rail privatisation in February 1995, deserves some sort of posthumous New Year honour for calling it exactly right.
While Tory ministers claimed that selling-off the railways would bring "benefits to passengers and taxpayers", and scoffed at opposition concerns, the latest above-inflation price increases in Britain's rail fares – already by far and away the highest in Europe – shows once more that the serial privatisers of John Major's Conservative government got it very, very wrong.
You can read the whole article here.
Friday, December 30, 2011
"Rail fares are TEN times higher in UK than in Europe"
The Daily Mail reports:
Rail passengers in Britain pay up to ten times more for their tickets than their European neighbours, figures reveal today.
They come as passengers brace themselves for a fresh round of fare rises of up to 11 per cent from Monday, and against a background of worsening train punctuality.
Critics say consumers are being ‘ripped off’ by an alliance of greedy train companies and tax-hungry Treasury ministers while passengers on the Continent pay significantly less for their journeys.
Rail passengers in Britain pay up to ten times more for their tickets than their European neighbours, figures reveal today.
They come as passengers brace themselves for a fresh round of fare rises of up to 11 per cent from Monday, and against a background of worsening train punctuality.
Critics say consumers are being ‘ripped off’ by an alliance of greedy train companies and tax-hungry Treasury ministers while passengers on the Continent pay significantly less for their journeys.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
CPO Press Release on the sale of Northern Rock to Virgin Money
The Campaign for Public Ownership strongly condemns the government’s decision to sell the publicly-owned Northern Rock bank to Virgin Money for £747m, meaning an effective loss of between £400m and £650m to the British taxpayer.
The history of privatisation is littered with examples of the government short-changing the taxpayer and this is yet another one.
The government could have kept the bank in public ownership. Failing that, it could have returned Northern Rock to the mutual sector, but only at a time when the transaction would have made taxpayers a profit. While the profitable part of Northern Rock is being sold off, the taxpayer is left holding Northern Rock (Asset Management), into which was placed the company‘s bad debt. It is a classic case of privatising the profits, while nationalising the losses.
The history of privatisation is littered with examples of the government short-changing the taxpayer and this is yet another one.
The government could have kept the bank in public ownership. Failing that, it could have returned Northern Rock to the mutual sector, but only at a time when the transaction would have made taxpayers a profit. While the profitable part of Northern Rock is being sold off, the taxpayer is left holding Northern Rock (Asset Management), into which was placed the company‘s bad debt. It is a classic case of privatising the profits, while nationalising the losses.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
The Coalition’s NHS changes ‘to cause irreparable harm’ say doctors
The BBC reports:
The overhaul of the NHS in England will cause irreparable harm, according to leading public health doctors.
In a letter to peers, who will debate the changes next week, nearly 400 public health experts said the changes must be rejected as they represented a risk to patient care and safety.
The doctors suggested it would fragment services, possibly threatening vaccination and screening campaigns.
The revelation that such influential members of the public health community have put their names to the letter comes on the day Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is to address the Conservative Party conference.
The Campaign for Public Ownership calls for peers to listen to the views of the medical profession, nurses, NHS workers and the general public and to reject the government's bill when it comes to the House of Lords next week.
The overhaul of the NHS in England will cause irreparable harm, according to leading public health doctors.
In a letter to peers, who will debate the changes next week, nearly 400 public health experts said the changes must be rejected as they represented a risk to patient care and safety.
The doctors suggested it would fragment services, possibly threatening vaccination and screening campaigns.
The revelation that such influential members of the public health community have put their names to the letter comes on the day Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is to address the Conservative Party conference.
The Campaign for Public Ownership calls for peers to listen to the views of the medical profession, nurses, NHS workers and the general public and to reject the government's bill when it comes to the House of Lords next week.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Save the NHS! Write to your MP ahead of next week's vote
There's just a few days to go before the Third Reading of the government's appalling NHS Bill.
The BMA have made clear their opposition to the bill here.
It is clear that the troubled passage of the Health and Social Care Bill reflects real concern over the future direction of the health service in England…….
the BMA continues to call for the Bill to be withdrawn or, at the very least, to be subject to further, significant amendment......
We believe there continues to be an inappropriate and misguided reliance on "market forces" to shape services.
If you haven't done so already, please sign the 38 Degrees Save the NHS petition, and also write to/email your MP ahead of next week's important vote.
As Guardian commentator Seumas Milne says, we cannot allow the abolition of the NHS in all but name.
The BMA have made clear their opposition to the bill here.
It is clear that the troubled passage of the Health and Social Care Bill reflects real concern over the future direction of the health service in England…….
the BMA continues to call for the Bill to be withdrawn or, at the very least, to be subject to further, significant amendment......
We believe there continues to be an inappropriate and misguided reliance on "market forces" to shape services.
If you haven't done so already, please sign the 38 Degrees Save the NHS petition, and also write to/email your MP ahead of next week's important vote.
As Guardian commentator Seumas Milne says, we cannot allow the abolition of the NHS in all but name.
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