Decades of under-investment in our social and economic infrastructure have resulted in a series of systemic breakdowns that must be reversed. We see potholes in every road, water pipes bursting, streets losing power, a thousand small problems that tell us something is going very wrong with the administration of our country.
Social and economic investment are two sides of the same coin. Without adequate education or social care or mental health provision, we have a population that is not at peak effectiveness. If mobile coverage is poor, roads constantly being closed or businesses flooded, there is waste of potential capacity.
The Workers Party of Britain will make it a priority to reverse this rot. Our nationalisation policy is based on a simple proposition that anything that is a monopoly or essential to the functioning of the country, especially those businesses strategically required in times of crisis, should be considered for re-nationalisation or nationalisation.
We say ‘considered’ because full nationalisation may not be necessary in every case, such as national logistics, if the industry concerned is prepared to operate constructively in line with national planning guidelines and places the nation before investors. If we have to legislate to give the national interest priority over the market, we will not hesitate to do so.
Our first task will be to end private-public partnership initiatives in the public sector and build the capacity for a national contracting agency integrated with the national economic plan. From there we will review all candidates for nationalisation with priority given to monopoly and public service entities such as Railtrack, the electricity grid and the water companies.
Other candidates for ‘consideration’ may include the military-industrial complex, national food logistics, ports and airports. The ‘de minimis’ requirement can be expected to be worker participation on Boards of Directors as well as worker-directors with specific veto and report-back powers.
In particular, we will take a decisive role in the pharmaceuticals industry on which our NHS depends. An entirely private pharmaceuticals industry is problematic given the importance of healthcare to the nation. Without close monitoring and significant control, it offers a recipe for profiteering at best and dangerous malpractice at worst.
Julie Lowe 