Latest news with #publicownership
Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Times
Ministers turning clock back to bad old days of British Rail
Bit by bit, Britain's rail network is falling back into public ownership. As the contracts of train operating companies expire, their operations are coming under the control of an interim Department for Transport (DfT) entity that will make way for Great British Railways some time in late 2026. All passenger operator contracts are expected to have been rolled into GBR from October 2027. From then on Britain will be served by a nationalised railway not dissimilar to British Rail, that specialist in shabby, second-class service that so epitomised shabby, postwar Britain. Only private freight operations will survive this return to locomotive socialism, together with rolling stock leasing firms and nimble 'open-access' private passenger companies operating on only a few routes with no subsidy in the gaps between GBR services. Everyone outside the Labour government can see what is coming down the line: a gigantic state monopoly run by civil servants (hundreds of DfT officials are being transferred to help run it) and those well-known champions of innovation and customer choice, the RMT and Aslef. As a report warns, the 'ghost of British Rail' is risen. Tony Lodge, a specialist in the rail industry at the Centre for Policy Studies think tank, is not alone in believing that it doesn't have to be this way. In his report, 'Rail's Last Chance', Mr Lodge describes GBR as a solution in search of a problem. He is right: while the privatisation of national infrastructure in the Thatcher-Major era produced winners (telecoms) and, ultimately, losers (water), the experience of the rail industry was more mixed. Before the pandemic rail privatisation was largely a success. Between 1998 and 2015 the number of passenger journeys more than doubled, outstripping state railways in France and Germany. New trains and services were introduced; passenger satisfaction was the highest in Europe. True, fares increased, and private operators sometimes overreached themselves with excessive franchise bids. But that record in no way makes the case for raising British Rail from the grave. It was not privatisation that resulted in the recent drop in rail income but Covid. The pandemic permanently altered the rail landscape. Working from home meant many fewer commutes and lucrative peak-time season tickets. Raw passenger numbers are almost at pre-pandemic levels but the tickets being bought are cheaper, off-peak ones: receipts are down £1.4 billion. Shipping fresh air around the country, as Rishi Sunak described operations during lockdown, killed the franchise model. Faced with rescuing insolvent passenger companies, the Tories chose consolidation under GBR, but with private firms running services on fixed contracts to foster innovation. In his report Mr Lodge pleads with the government not to throw the good out with the bad. The network is costing the taxpayer £12 billion a year while delivering only 2 per cent of passenger journeys. If this huge burden on the public finances is to be reduced ministers must, he says, prioritise customer and income growth. That means allowing more and more open-access operators to compete on price and service, making ticketing more user friendly with apps and points systems, monetising the network's vast land bank and making the Office of Rail and Road into a muscular regulator. His is a hybrid system marrying a unified network with competition. Everyone knows it's the best way forward. Except the unions and government.
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Corbyn party should nationalise all banks, says board member
Jeremy Corbyn's new party will campaign to nationalise all banks, one of its organisers has said. Pamela Fitzpatrick, a socialist campaigner and confidante of Mr Corbyn, said his party would campaign on a 'ruthless' and 'unapologetic' socialist platform, going further than Labour's 'pretty mild' 2019 manifesto. Mr Corbyn launched the new party with Zarah Sultana, another Left-wing former Labour MP. Its name and policies will be decided at a conference later in the year, but it is currently entitled 'Your Party'. The Telegraph can reveal some of its key figures are pushing for radical socialist policies, including forced nationalisation of the housing, construction and banking sectors and a ban on all second homes. Ms Fitzpatrick told a podcast in May: 'What we should be doing is taking back those things into public ownership without compensation. 'We ought to be nationalising the construction industry. We ought to be thinking about nationalising the banks. 'We ought to say, we want a society where nobody's going hungry and everybody has a roof over their head, and when we get to that point, maybe then it's okay for somebody to own two properties, but until we have that it is not.' Ms Fitzpatrick was expelled from the Labour Party in 2021 for giving an interview to an online channel associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party. She is now one of the directors of the Peace and Justice Project (PJP), which Mr Corbyn set up after standing down as Labour leader to coordinate his campaigns. She has spoken extensively about the prospect of a new party over the last year, and the PJP is managing data for the new Corbyn party, according to its website. Ms Sultana, who is one of the two current MPs to give the new party its backing, said on Friday morning the party had already received signups from 230,000 people. A spokesman said the figure was close to 300,000 by the end of the day – just short of Labour's 309,000 membership figures. Some Left-wing Labour MPs, who had been expected to defect to Mr Corbyn, have said they would prefer to change Sir Keir Starmer's party from within. In another interview, Ms Fitzpatrick said she did not believe Labour should have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism in 2018, which happened after complaints under Mr Corbyn's leadership. 'A key issue was the definition of anti-Semitism being adopted,' she said on an online panel in December. 'We should never have agreed to that and lots of us were kind of victims of that.' Mr Corbyn has apologised for anti-Semitic abuse in the Labour Party under his leadership, but the disclosure will raise concerns that he will not adopt the definition again in his new venture. A spokesman for Mr Corbyn declined to comment on whether the definition would be adopted. The spokesman said: '300,000 people have signed up to be part of a democratic founding process, leading to an all-member inaugural conference. This conference will determine the policies that are needed to transform society.' It is understood that Mr Corbyn and allies are in the process of forming a steering committee for the new party, which will operate independently of the PJP. It comes after polling showed that a party led by Mr Corbyn currently has the support of 10 per cent of the public. Ms Sultana told organisers earlier this week that the party should be aiming for between 20 and 25 per cent of the vote at the local elections in May. The elections, which cover some English councils and devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland, are already being pitched as a key test for Sir Keir by his critics on the Labour benches. Some MPs have discussed deposing the party leader if he loses Labour-held councils or moves backwards in the devolved administrations. Ms Fitzpatrick said: 'The new party will be democratic, member-led and accountable. Policies will be determined collectively – not dictated by individuals. 'My personal views, like those of any other member, will be one voice among many.'
Zawya
23-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Los Angeles Times plans IPO, billionaire owner says
The Los Angeles Times newspaper plans to go public within the next year, its owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said in a television interview, aiming to give the public ownership of the 143-year-old publication. "We're literally going to take LA Times public and allow it to be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper," Soon-Shiong said on "The Daily Show" in a taped interview with the host, Jon Stewart, on Monday. The billionaire owner of the newspaper said the model would resemble the public ownership structure of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and that a partner organization was working on the structure. The effort would be led by a new diversified media company called the L.A. Times Next Network, aimed at "rebuilding trust in media" by combining verified information, technology, and community participation, the newspaper said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Network consists of five coordinated pillars: the Los Angeles Times; LAT Next, a curated creator platform; Nant Games, focused on esports and civic/scientific gaming; NantStudios Virtual Production, oKering real-time virtual production capabilities; and L.A. Times Studios, supporting streaming, live events, and forums," the statement added. The initiative will pursue a novel Regulation A+ financing structure led by investment bank Digital Offering, which the company said would allow readers and supporters to become shareholders. The move follows months of turmoil at the Los Angeles Times. Last January, the paper laid off at least 115 staff, or more than 20% of its newsroom, amid continued financial losses and leadership exits, including Executive Editor Kevin Merida and Managing Editor Sara Yasin. At the time, Soon-Shiong said the paper was losing $30 million to $40 million annually. The paper's editorials editor also resigned last year after Soon-Shiong reportedly blocked a planned endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris, triggering subscriber backlash. Soon-Shiong, who is also the founder of ImmunityBio , bought the LA Times along with other newspapers in 2018 for $500 million from Tronc. (Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jacqueline Wong)
Reuters
23-07-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Los Angeles Times plans IPO, billionaire owner says
July 22 (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times newspaper plans to go public within the next year, its owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said in a television interview, aiming to give the public ownership of the 143-year-old publication. "We're literally going to take LA Times public and allow it to be democratized and allow the public to have ownership of this paper," Soon-Shiong said on "The Daily Show" in a taped interview with the host, Jon Stewart, on Monday. The billionaire owner of the newspaper said the model would resemble the public ownership structure of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and that a partner organization was working on the structure. The effort would be led by a new diversified media company called the L.A. Times Next Network, aimed at "rebuilding trust in media" by combining verified information, technology, and community participation, the newspaper said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Network consists of five coordinated pillars: the Los Angeles Times; LAT Next, a curated creator platform; Nant Games, focused on esports and civic/scientific gaming; NantStudios Virtual Production, oKering real-time virtual production capabilities; and L.A. Times Studios, supporting streaming, live events, and forums," the statement added. The initiative will pursue a novel Regulation A+ financing structure led by investment bank Digital Offering, which the company said would allow readers and supporters to become shareholders. The move follows months of turmoil at the Los Angeles Times. Last January, the paper laid off at least 115 staff, or more than 20% of its newsroom, amid continued financial losses and leadership exits, including Executive Editor Kevin Merida and Managing Editor Sara Yasin. At the time, Soon-Shiong said the paper was losing $30 million to $40 million annually. The paper's editorials editor also resigned last year after Soon-Shiong reportedly blocked a planned endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris, triggering subscriber backlash. Soon-Shiong, who is also the founder of ImmunityBio (IBRX.O), opens new tab, bought the LA Times along with other newspapers in 2018 for $500 million from Tronc.
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Environment Secretary urged to apologise for ‘misleading' Scottish water claims
The Scottish Government is demanding an apology from UK Environment Secretary Steve Reed for 'inaccurate and misleading' made about water quality north of the border. Mr Reed came under fire after claiming that under publicly-owned Scottish Water 'pollution levels in Scotland are worse than they are in England'. The UK Government minister made the remarks to Channel 4 News as he dismissed calls for water services south of the border to be nationalised. Gillian Martin, the Scottish Government Secretary for Climate Action and Energy, said she was 'extremely disappointed' that Mr Reed had made the 'inaccurate and misleading comments regarding performance in Scotland' as he sought to 'dismiss out of hand the value of public ownership of a key asset like water'. She wrote to Mr Reed noting that Monday's report from the Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, had found 66% of Scotland's water bodies to be of good ecological status, compared with 16.1% in England and 29.9% in Wales. And while she accepted the figures for the different countries were 'not calculated on the same basis', Ms Martin stated: 'It is clear that Scotland has a higher performance.' She insisted that 'much of the improvement' seen in water in Scotland was 'due to significant investment in the water industry to reduce pollution', which she said was driven by both Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa). Ms Martin told the UK Environment Secretary: 'Your comments sought also to undermine the idea of public ownership in the minds of voters, yet this is clearly what the people of Scotland continue to want. 'Indeed, it is the very fact of that public ownership and control which has allowed us to keep water bills lower for people, compared to what people with privatised water supplies in England have to pay.' Noting that Sepa had found 87% of the Scottish water environment to be of 'high' of 'good' quality – up from 82% in 2014 – she insisted this was 'in part, due to water being a publicly-owned asset, allowing for investment without shareholder returns or the pressure to make profits'. The Scottish Government minister went on to tell Mr Reed: 'I am therefore asking that you acknowledge that your comments were inaccurate, that you apologise publicly for making them, and seek to correct them.' Sir Jon's review of water services south of the border did not explore renationalising water companies – with the Government at Westminster opposed to this despite demands from campaigners for a return to public ownership in England. Mr Reed however warned that nationalisation would cost £100 billion and would slow down efforts to cut pollution. The UK Government has been contacted for comment.
