Bus service prices again on the up!
Community services closing and not being replaced!
Private companies servicing shareholders over local people!
Solution:
Bringing a service into public ownership can be daunting, but once it’s done, the results can be amazing. We’ve put together a bunch of resources to encourage councils to bring services in house. Now we need you to make sure your councillors see them!
We don’t have to wait for a new government to start bringing services into public ownership. Local councils can do it now! But they need to know that they have your support. Let’s start working to build the country we want to live in – send the email below to get the ball rolling at your local council.
NB: We’ve tried to make sure that the email works for every local council, but please personalise it if you can. Every council is different, so this will work much better if the email is really written by you – just make sure to keep the links to our council services resources.
We own it: locally
Councils are setting up energy companies to give communities an affordable, green alternative to the Big Six. Check out Robin Hood Energy, Bristol Energy and White Rose Energy, as well as Our Power in Scotland and the People’s Energy company.
11 councils run their own buses across the UK – publicly owned companies like Reading Buses and Nottingham City Transport win awards every year.
Local councils are also providing great public alternatives to outsourcing on everything from waste to social care. So we’ve set up the Local Public Ownership Awards to celebrate their success!
We own it: nationally
The NHS was found to be the best healthcare system in the world in 2014 – scoring especially highly on quality and efficiency (despite being undermined by the government.)
While water in England is privatised, Scottish Water is publicly owned and is the most trusted utility company in the UK. Not for profit Welsh Water helps low income households to pay their bills.
On our railway, the East Coast line was run in public ownership from 2009 to 2014. It had 91% customer satisfaction and returned £1 billion to the Treasury. (Today, half of our rail services are run by foreign state owned companies.)
Channel 4 is commercially run but publicly owned. It makes innovative programmes that reflect the UK’s diverse community.
Ordnance Survey has mapped every corner of our country since 1791. Its digital data underpins an estimated £100 billion of our economy.
The Land Registry has returned a profit to the Treasury in 19 of the last 20 years. Its customer satisfaction rate is 94%.
The Royal Mint is our oldest publicly owned institution – it’s been making our coins for over 1100 years.
The Met Office is one of the world’s top two global weather forecasters for accuracy. Government and business rely on its data.
NATS is the leading provider of air traffic control services. It keeps 220 million passengers safe every year.
The Royal Mail, before it was privatised, was making millions in profit for all of us.
Public ownership around the world
Take a world tour of public ownership: the Transnational Institute has put together a report containing 835 examples of public ownership initiatives in 45 countries worldwide. Cities and citizens all over the globe are turning away from privatisation – and embracing public ownership!
