Watch the full speech on @centreforcities.bsky.social’s YouTube channel: youtu.be/fUB7kFqfl0s?...
06.03.2026 14:40
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Watch the full speech on @centreforcities.bsky.social’s YouTube channel: youtu.be/fUB7kFqfl0s?...
Read our new briefing, “The Privatisation Premium and the Case for Public Provision” at our website:
www.common-wealth.org/publications...
“Rebuilding public provision is not the alternative to fiscal prudence. It is fiscal prudence.”
@mayorofgm.bsky.social quotes our new briefing “The Privatisation Premium” at Wednesday's @centreforcities.bsky.social keynote speech on “Manchesterism”. 👇
📹 Credit: @centreforcities.bsky.social
“The 2022 energy crisis presented a fork in the road for Europe – double down on volatile fossil fuel markets, or pivot to homegrown clean energy and greater security.”
Now, European leaders are supporting a war that may cause the next energy shock. 👇
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
“The UK’s failure to [pivot to homegrown clean energy] has left people on ordinary incomes paying the price.”
Europe's strategy worsened the last energy shock. Now, European leaders support a war that may cause the next one.
Our briefing in @theguardian.com 👇
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Andy Burnham’s “Manchesterism” rightly argues that the loss of public control of essential services worsens the cost of living crisis.
This is the “Privatisation Premium”.
Our new briefing explains this premium & how to fix it. 🧵
www.common-wealth.org/publications...
Europe’s dependence on US gas is a critical weakness — existing because Europe failed to invest in energy independence during the energy crisis.
While Europe was funnelling money to US fossil fuel firms, China spent €1.1 trillion more on the energy transition.
As Europe phased out gas from Russia, much of it was replaced by US Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) — which is more expensive, has greater price swings and is worse for the climate.
LNG prices in Europe spiked by over 50% after the US attack on Iran.
The US–Israeli attack on Iran will deepen the cost of living crisis.
The last energy shock cost Europe $1.8tn. Europe’s leaders have backed the illegal war that may cause the next shock.
The transatlantic alliance is Europe’s trillion dollar bill. 🧵
transitionsecurity.org/trillion-dol...
The 'privatisation premium' is taking money from your pocket and giving it to profiteering corporations.
This excellent briefing from COLA member @cmmonwealth.bsky.social shows how public control of essentials is vital to combatting the cost of living crisis.
Public ownership is the best method to stabilise cost of essentials and rebuild Britain’s frayed foundational infrastructure.
Read more: www.common-wealth.org/publications...
The institutional vehicle capable of delivering lower prices and rebuilt essentials is the vertically integrated, operationally independent corporation: able to borrow cheaper, build faster and invest at longer term horizons than any private equivalent.
Transforming the economic governance of key sectors through public ownership can make use of lower capital costs and sectoral reintegration.
This leads to lowered prices to consumers and the rebuilding of lost capacity and infrastructure through coherent investment.
Fixing these, and tackling the cost of living crisis, should be treated as economic and political priorities.
But the approaches taken by the Govt so far are not targeting one of the root problems: privatisation.
Privatisation creates intense fiscal pressures: the welfare state picks up part of the bill as greater cash transfers are needed for a minimum living standard: e.g., the housing benefit bill has exploded, but the money flows through to landlords, not new homes.
Privatisation — because of these two factors — results in chronic underinvestment in these essential sectors.
This, in turn, causes chronic capacity weaknesses with negative downstream effects for productivity and dynamism.
And, since the 1990s, almost £200 billion has been sent from billpayers to the shareholders of the privatised essential sectors, money that should have funded investment to improve services and reduce bills.
www.common-wealth.org/interactive/...
These result in elevated prices, which consumers have no choice but to pay through bills and fares.
28% of the typical water bill in England goes to funding shareholder returns and debt servicing, while almost a quarter of the average energy bill in 2025 was corporate profit.
Unbundling what were previously vertically integrated industries was an attempt to create competition.
But it gave rise to malcoordination and transaction costs that raise costs and delay investment.
Private providers have higher costs due to:
1 — default risk premium, elevating cost of debt vs public investment
2 — equity return requirement, avg. 8-12% for regulated utilities, also lower for public providers
3 — financial complexity costs, absent from public borrowing
The privatisation premium has 2 central causes:
— Companies’ elevated cost of capital relative to public investment, which raises prices for highly capital-intensive sectors
— Coordination issues and transaction costs due to the fragmentation needed to create horizontal competition
A key driver of the cost of living crisis is sharply rising prices in essential sectors where public provision used to play a leading role.
Housing, energy, water & transport display the privatisation premium. Consumers pay more relative to historic trends and peer nations.
Andy Burnham’s “Manchesterism” rightly argues that the loss of public control of essential services worsens the cost of living crisis.
This is the “Privatisation Premium”.
Our new briefing explains this premium & how to fix it. 🧵
www.common-wealth.org/publications...
“In a recent study, [it was] found that Thames Water made at least 8,499 illegal discharges from its sewage treatment works between 2021 and 2025, representing 22 per cent of all spills.”
This is what happens when our essentials are privately owned.
www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/market...
“These politicians do not lose children in the fighting or bear the brunt of soaring energy prices. In the brutal project of US power politics, it is working class people everywhere who bear the costs.”
🖋️ Khem Rogaly for @lbc.co.uk 👇
www.lbc.co.uk/article/keir...
“I think capitalism makes us unfree in general, and with respect to nature, compels us to treat nature as a free gift.”
Our latest Centre for Democratising Work interview with Amelia Horgan and @alybatt.bsky.social on capitalism, freedom and morality. 👇
www.common-wealth.org/centre-for-d...
“Rachel Reeves must reform the Office for Budget Responsibility to open the way to more public investment ... our current framework is contributing to instability, short-termist underinvestment and a lack of focus on long-term risks and opportunities.”
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Description of March 30th economic democracy event at LSE
Is a democratic economy possible? What could it look like and how might we achieve it? Come to LSE on March 30th to discuss these questions and more with @isabelleferreras.bsky.social, @mathewlawrence.bsky.social and me.
www.lse.ac.uk/events/democ...
We set out the case for removing gas plants from the market as part of a plan to lower bills and deliver genuine energy security. 👇
www.common-wealth.org/publications...
The illegal attack on Iran has triggered an energy crisis.
To protect households and stabilise prices as far as possible, the Government should remove gas plants from the open wholesale market and transition them into a “strategic reserve” governed by a Regulated Asset Base.
