To support Public Ownership vote for an EU left exit

The CPO's Neil Clark's latest column for the Morning Star: 

Why would supporters of public ownership wish to stay in an organisation which is clearly hostile to the idea of state providers of services and which is pushing member states to privatise and not nationalise, asks NEIL CLARK

 
 IT WAS a news story which didn’t get too much coverage in Britain, but it was one which should give progressives and socialists who are planning to vote Remain in June’s EU referendum food for thought.
On December 14 2015, the British profiteering train and coach company National Express (which has been taking us for a ride for some time here in Britain) began operating two regional lines in Germany — taking them over from the state-owned DB Regio.
“The German rail market presents significant further opportunity,” enthused NX chief executive Dean Finch...

The whole article can be read here.

The Panama Papers and Privatisation

The CPO's Neil Clark's latest Morning Star column

IT ALL began in 1979. That was the year when privatisation was launched in Britain (back then it was called “denationalisation”) and exchange controls were lifted.
On October 23, Thatcher’s chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe stood up in Parliament and announced the abolition of all existing exchange controls — except those applying to Zimbabwe.
The controls which Howe was abolishing had existed for 40 years — and, like public ownership, were an integral part of the social democratic economic system which existed after WWII. But for the Thatcherites they were an unwelcome restriction which prevented the rich from becoming even richer.

You can read on here.

The Land Registry sell-off is a disgrace

The CPO's Neil Clark writes in The Sunday Express

IT is the public body that anyone who has bought property in England and Wales will have had dealings with.

The Land Registry was established in 1862 and has been serving us quietly and efficiently for more than 150 years. Now though, a dark cloud hangs over the body that registers land ownership and maintains the documentation of almost 24 million titles.
Just before Easter, Business Secretary Sajid Javid announced plans to privatise the Land Registry.
“The preferred model is a contract between government and a private operator, with all the core functions transferred out of the public sector,” said the statement.

The whole article can be read here. 
Note: We have until May 26 to let the Government know what we think of its privatisation proposals. You can send your views to lr.consultation@ukgi.gov.uk or write to Lizzie Dixon, 1 Victoria Street, London, W1H 0ET.

Please also sign the 38 Degrees petition opposing the privatisation! 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-privatisation-of-the-land-registry

It now has over 208,000 signatures

We’re selling off the world, but who wins?

The new column by the CPO's Neil Clark, for the Morning Star.

BY ALL rights, the 2008 global financial crisis should have marked the end of the era of privatisation and the return to the more equitable mixed economy model which dominated in the post-war era.

Instead, it only ushered in a new, more extreme phase in the neoliberal project.

To reduce the deficit and get the public finances “in order,” we were told we had to privatise remaining publicly owned assets.

It’s a task that’s been carried out with great relish by the Tories in Britain, aided from 2010-15 by their “Orange Book” Lib Dem coalition accomplices.

In December, it was revealed that Chancellor George Osborne was on course to sell off more public assets than any chancellor for the past 30 years, even more than Nigel Lawson.

The full article can be read here:

Neil Clark: Privatisation and Big Brother go hand-in-glove

The CPO's Neil Clark's new Morning Star column on the link between neoliberalism/neoconservatism  and the surveillance state.

The combination of privatisation, increased state surveillance and greater police powers suits the neoliberals and neocons who rule over us perfectly, argues NEIL CLARK

On October 13 the government sold off the last publicly owned stake in Royal Mail, which had been in state hands since its inception in 1516.
On November 4 Theresa May announced a new Investigatory Powers Bill, which would enable mass state surveillance of everyone in Britain.
In the words of the US investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald: “The UK is about to become the only democracy in the world to force internet companies to store people’s browsing history.”
At first it might seem strange that a government that is so keen on privatising and reducing state involvement in the economy is also keen on increasing the state’s snooping powers. But there really is no contradiction.

The whole article can be read here.

How support for Public Ownership can propel Jeremy Corbyn and Labour to power

The CPO's Neil Clark's latest column for the Morning Star.

....Support for public ownership undoubtedly helped to propel Corbyn to the Labour leadership. It can also help him and Labour return to power in 2020.
For it’s not just Labour members who have had enough of privatisation. Polls carried out by the Money Saving Expert website, founded and edited by Martin Lewis, found large majorities in favour of public ownership earlier this year. A poll in late January showed that 86 per cent of the 10,742 people who voted were in favour of nationalising the railways. And 75 per cent supported renationalisation of the gas and energy companies..


Read the whole article here

Railing, then failing- The Tories favourite game

The new Morning Star column from CPO  Director Neil Clark:

PRIVATISED companies are exposed for sharp practices. A “furious” government minister says that what they’re doing is wrong and threatens to “take action.” Nothing happens. If that sequence of events sounds familiar then its no surprise. It’s what’s been occurring on a regular basis since the era of privatisation rip-offs began in 1979.
The latest example is the “revelation” that rail company First Great Western has been hiding the cheapest fares from its customers at its booking offices. Newspapers published emails from the company to its customers which stated that its staff were under no obligation to inform passengers about the best fares — it was up to passengers to find them for themselves.
Straight on cue, Rail Minister Claire Perry expressed her outrage....

You can read the whole column here.