British politicians are addicted to privatisation. When Margaret Thatcher began her project of hacking away at the public sector, she justified it on the grounds that the state monopolies were bloated and inefficient. She was right insofar as any monopoly is prone to inefficiency without the forces of competition at work. But at some point, it became clear that privatisation was about ideology rather than generating competition (competition can be generated without sell-offs). Within years, sell-offs were imposed on what economists call “natural monopolies”, services that can’t really be opened to competition. For example, it’s only practical to install one set of electricity cables and water pipes to serve a given house, so power and water distribution are natural monopolies.
Under the post-war settlement, natural monopolies were generally taken under public control to defend against their abuse by private owners. Since 1979, consecutive governments have not only reversed this, but they have hived off governmental operations into for -profit, privately owned entities. New Labour sold off (on the cheap, of course) the National Air Traffic control service. A key asset, of supreme importance, now under commercial control. There are endless similar examples, such as the firm charged with overseeing nuclear reactor designs.
Now, the Government is formulating plans to flog-off the Land Registry, the 150 year-old government office which oversees property rights and title deeds for every house, office, shop, farm and disused scrap of land in Britain. To give a business the ability to set whatever administrative fee it likes to register every propriety sale in the country is like giving a child the keys to a sweetshop and asking it to take just one chocolate bar. Businesses like to say they have a “duty” to maximise their return to shareholders. This isn’t just an invitation for profiteering, this is sending a limousine to profiteering’s house with the promise of a champagne reception just for coming along.
If the government- sorry, what remains of the public government- seriously imagines that these governmental corporations won’t abuse their powers, they are either naive or blinded by their ideology. Government must be of the people, for the people and by the people. Business is done for shareholders and by managers. The two don’t mix, and I hope that fact is recognised before Serco is put in charge of the Army.
