My article in this week’s Cornish Guardian focuses on my
opposition to the privatisation of public services. It was as follows:
The economic problems of the last few years were not caused
by those ordinary people, who are now suffering the harsh consequences of damaging
cuts to public services.
It remains my view that the problems were caused by an
over-heating housing market, the failure of the political classes to regulate
the financial sector, a credit bubble and irresponsible lending.
And it saddens me that the Coalition Government is wielding
an ideological axe to turn a crisis caused by the private sector into a crisis
for the public sector throughout the United
Kingdom .
I am particularly fearful at the determination of the
Coalition to privatise a range of public services.
Many readers of the Cornish Guardian may not be fully aware
that central government has already privatised the UK ’s
helicopter search and rescue service. From 2017, the service will not be provided
by squadrons of the RAF and the Royal Navy, but by the Bristow Group – an American
private company.
I believe that is simply wrong that such vital services could
be provided by private companies, whose main objective is to make profits for
their shareholders.
One defence analyst has praised the RAF and Royal Navy for
providing a “fantastic” service over many years. He has pointed out that most
search and rescue services, around the world, remain in the hands of the state.
And he has noted how “this is a big operation” and that a “lot of people’s
lives are at risk,” challenging the appropriateness of introducing the “profit
motive” into the service.
I also agree with the senior politician who slammed the
Government for “flogging air-sea rescue” which he described as the “thin edge
of the wedge.” He added, “is there nothing that [the] Coalition Government will
not sell in an attempt to reverse their own economic malaise?”
But it gets worse. The Coalition still has plans to
privatise the Royal Mail and the “loan book” made up of existing student loans.
The sell-off of the Royal Mail is opposed by the National
Federation of Sub-Postmasters, which has “serious concerns over the future of
the post office network,” and even a prominent Conservative think-tank has
warned MPs against the privatisation. And the potential loss of the loan book
has been condemned as “short-termist” and “contemptuous of citizens.”
Once again, I would urge the Government to re-think its
approach to the provision of public services.