For far too long the cheerleaders of privatisation have been winning

Last week, I got the train home to Newcastle for the first time since East Coast became Virgin East Coast. Or, in other words, since it was privatised (again). Now instead of a publicly run train service that – despite what the government might have you believe – relied on fewer subsidies than any of the 15 privately owned rail franchises, it’s Virgin and Stagecoach that are in control. They’re adamant that nothing has changed. The staff and the trains are the same, they say. That simply isn’t true; the driving motivation behind the companies running the franchise has transformed into one focussed primarily on profits and stakeholders’ gains. But, perhaps the most galling fact in all of this is that it happened despite significant public opposition.

It’s not just with the railways where this is happening. From the Post Office to the NHS, publicly owned institutions are being sold off by the state (whether entirely or in part) either without any form of formal public consolation, or with public input that the government proceeds to ignore. In each case, politicians have stuck their fingers in their ears to drown out public criticism.

People are increasingly unhappy about this and not just when it comes to valued institutions like the health service. A Survation poll for campaigning group We Own It found that half of people are opposed to outsourcing public services to the private sector and 68% want to be consulted before privatisation happens.  The public are wary of privatisation, in particular when it’s forced upon them in the shadowy way it tends to be – it doesn’t sound particularly democratic, does it?

Surely, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that when government claims state-owned companies are unprofitable, it is, so often proceeded by underinvestment.

It’s unsurprising that there’s not much of an appetite for privatisation among “working people” because those are exactly the people who are affected the most. Earlier this month, on behalf of the TUC, the New Economics Foundation found that when compared with public service employees, workers in privatised services are more likely to work longer hours, receive less pay and be on insecure or temporary contracts. Experience privatisation in this way and the argument for it begins to wilt under the glare of facts.

But the undemocratic nature of privatisation is more than just about than just about people as workers or customers, it’s also about our sense of community. Public space is also being privatised and we’re left with few places to claim as our own. So while politicians might find it easy to scapegoat immigrants for the deteriorating sense of ‘community’, the declining amount of space we can call our own is overlooked.

There’s plenty of evidence to show the public are unhappy about privatisation. But step into the political sphere and it doesn’t feel too fashionable or even acceptable to say this. For far too long the cheerleaders of privatisation have been winning – or at least dominating – this debate in politics. So instead of half promises, Labour need to have an open and honest conversation about public ownership because that’s what many people are asking for.