@cmmonwealth.bsky.social
We design ownership models for a democratic and sustainable economy.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social“Public ownership is what 90% of the world does and what 82% of the British public want because they see the failures of privatisation.”
“Crystal Clear,” our recent briefing on the roadmap to public water ownership, featured in @theleaduk.bsky.social 👇
@transitionsec.bsky.socialReposted by @cmmonwealth.bsky.socialNEW: Keir Starmer declared last year that the “peace dividend” was over, promoting the myth that Britain’s military spending has declined since the end of the Cold War. Our latest report shows this simply isn’t true. 🧵
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialControl without ownership?
Will Hutton & Andy Haldane have drawn up a plan to fix the UK water industry: introduce guardrails, but keep it in private hands.
Chris Hayes explains why this is ill-founded – and why only public ownership can fix a broken system.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialThe state has a lower cost of capital that will make it highly competitive. Competition should, over time, lower bills, speed up rollout and increase investment into the grid."
@mathewlawrence.bsky.social in @thetimes.com on the plan for Great British Grid.
www.thetimes.com/business/com...
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialEnergy bills are set to rise for millions of households from Thursday.
Our Director is part of a group of experts and campaigners that has written to the Chancellor, warning that “failure to take action would risk deepening the cost of living crisis.”
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialNine years after Grenfell, the Met Police is filing charges against some of the companies involved.
Read our report on Arconic — the company that produced the cladding behind the fire — to understand how these companies dodged accountability for so long.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social“One of the things we’re pushing for… is a ‘failure to prevent’ duty. This would ask companies to actively prevent things from happening, rather than just holding companies responsible after the fact.”
Leela Jadhav on @channel4news.bsky.social about corporate accountability after Grenfell 👇
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialAnd to stay in the loop with updates from Common Wealth, subscribe to our Substack here 👇
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social"As the Prime Minister declared in Liverpool: privatisation of the water industry in England has failed. Debate is now not whether change is needed, but in what form."
Read an extract from our new briefing "Crystal Clear" on our Substack:
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social“If done well, this could be a win-win. It could speed up the grid, make returns flow better to the public, and help lower energy costs for businesses and households.” @mathewlawrence.bsky.social discusses Andy Burnham’s new plan for a public electricity grid company on BBC Scotland👇
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social"The jury's out as to what [Burnham's water announcement] will actually mean, but it is a step forwards for what I think the public want, which is taking water back... into public hands." Our director @mathewlawrence.bsky.social rounded up of the PM's speech at Labour Party Conference to BBC News.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialBritain “is one of the only countries to have fully privatised its grid... but today’s announcement can help rebuild state capacity in energy, learning by doing”.
@mathewlawrence.bsky.social in the @theguardian.com on the GB Grid plan.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialBritain’s privatisation of the energy grid has led to “decades of sluggish development and chronic underinvestment. [Burnham] seems to have fixed that by bringing in public investment into new parts of the grid.”
Our Director @mathewlawrence.bsky.social for BBC News👇
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialNearly 90 per cent of water in wealthy democracies is publicly owned.
England doesn’t have to accept polluted rivers, leaking pipes and high bills.
Public ownership offers the best way to fix this system.
Read our new briefing to find out why.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialSome have proposed “mutualisation” models — ownership by customers, workers, or both. This would improve on our current system but will leave water companies tied to high borrowing costs to fund urgent investment.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialUnder the current privatised system, billpayers pay £4.4bn a year (£176 per household) in returns on capital to shareholders and banks, even though bills have been sufficient to finance investment every year since 1993, and debt has overwhelmingly been issued to pay dividends.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialIn 2019, Moody’s estimated a one-off cost of £14.5 billion in 2019 to bring water into public ownership. This report estimates that in 2026, public ownership using special administration of failing water companies will cost closer to £0.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialRelentlessly, water polluter lobbyists have argued public ownership would cost £90 billion in 2018, £100 billion in 2024 and now £144 billion in 2026. This figures, though very effective in scaring governments, have no basis in reality or law.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.socialSince privatisation in 1989, shareholders have taken over £85.2 billion in dividends. This is money that could’ve gone into fixing pipes, improving sewage treatments and investing in our infrastructure. Instead, capital has been extracted from the system.
@cmmonwealth.bsky.social82 per cent of the British public support the public ownership of water — the most cost-effective option for bill payers. But what would it cost?
