Category: Gas, Electricity and Rail Fares in Britain

Starmer threatens the UK Energy Market suggesting a Publicly Owned Energy Provider

Sir Kier Starmer sent a strong message to the UK Energy Providers  with an underlying threat made at the Labour Party Conference yesterday. If Labour gets elected it will set up a new publicly owned Energy Provider that will be in direct competition  with the current UK Energy Providers. However it will be run for the benefit of the public and not as a privatised enterprise.  This was initially  my idea that I provided to the Labour Party on 19th October 2017. See my post http://havemysay.me.uk/competition-is-the-way-forward-for-the-public-ownership-of-gas-and-electricity-in-britain 

Let’s  get an Energy Company that works for Britain: instead of outside interests

So this was originally  my idea of setting up a Government owned Energy Company offering direct competition  to the current suppliers with the aim of putting  them out of business. So instead of raising public funds to re-nationalise we can actually  put them out of business instead without having to pay any compensation  to shareholders. Even though Sir Kier Starmer  didn’t  mention putting  them out of business  that is surely the ultimate aim. Clearing  the way for Britain  to at last and again be in total charge of it’s  energy provision. Let’s finally rid ourselves  of outside interests from other countries  leaching on our energy markets. Let’s  stop subsidising other countries  and standing by while they benefit from our subsidiaries. Let’s  get an energy market that works for Britain  and Britain  alone.

It could be though of as re-nationalisation  by stealth and uses Thatcher’s  own policies of market competition  to re-nationalise and take Energy  Provision back into Public Ownership. This was my idea and it has obviously  been taken on by Sir Kier and the Labour Party.

Should the Energy Providers be worried: you bet they should

So should the UK’S  Energy Providers should  be worried: you bet they should. The public image of these companies  are that they are greedy and exploitative and those that endorse them ( the Tories) are tarred with the same brush. It’s  time to sweep them aside by taking all their customers  by offering a better  deal from a government  owned Energy Provider working for the benefit of all UK  citizens and putting profits back at the disposal of the UK  Government. This is Thatcherism  in reverse at long  last so that the greedy UK  Energy Providers get put out of business using the very policies of competition that brought them into being in the first place. At long last Sir Kier Starmer  has the clear thinking to finally offer some new thinking to tackle the long entrenched, outdated and discredited policies of Thatcherism. With a little  help from me of course.

It is widely expected that the Bank of England will raise interests rates today : why is this wrong to do so?

This post has been made in response to Kevin Peachey’s article that appeared today on the BBC’s App and website  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57764601  .It is widely  expected that the Bank of England will raise interest rates today in order to tackle Inflation. This is a very predictable text book response to Inflation and seen by many as the preferred method  to tackle  Inflation. The BBC has inferred  that this Inflation is as a result of the lack of goods in the Economy after the Pandemic. From what I remember of the Pandemic is wasn’t goods availability that was problematic it was just that there appeared to be a shift away from people actually going to get goods to a situation whereby goods were being mainly ordered and delivered. Sure enough there was some drop in production but this didn’t impact greatly on availability. There was however more of a drop in services in that sector of the Economy.  However today all I ever see down our street and on our estate is loads and loads of delivery vans constantly  shuffling about and delivering goods to people’s  homes via Amazon and DPD to name but a few. Also I myself  have ordered much since the Pandemic  ended and have enjoyed taking advantage  of one day delivery schemes. So when the BBC state lack of goods as a cause of this current period of Inflation , I simply have to  laugh. I have never recently gone onto the Internet and Amazon, in particular, where I remember being informed that the goods that I wished to order were out of stock. This has been my recent experience.  So where is this shortage of goods driving this Inflation? It simply does not exist but has become an easy  scapegoat to avoid the real finger of suspicion.

The real cause of Inflation is the greedy energy and utilities  companies hiking up profits and disguising these as pass on costs.

Continue reading It is widely expected that the Bank of England will raise interests rates today : why is this wrong to do so?

Energy Companies and Utilities are laughing at you all the way to the Bank

The energy companies and the utilities are laughing at you all the way to the bank. As you struggle to meet your fuel and energy  bills these companies continue to drive inflation higher and higher whilst maximising  their ever increasing  profits and paying huge dividends to their shareholders. It is immoral that they are making huge profits and not simply passing on costs to consumers. Instead they are adding huge profit margins  to their prices. In this way they are fixing prices and driving inflation  without regards. Their behaviour is immoral and wrong. They are exploiting consumers and laughing at them whilst the Tory government  does nothing at all.

To tackle inflation you must reel in the profiteering of the Energy and Utilities who are driving inflation upwards for their own ends

Continue reading Energy Companies and Utilities are laughing at you all the way to the Bank

Exactly Who is making money from these Energy Price Hikes?

A question on everyone’s  mind at the moment concerns exactly  Who is making money from these Energy Price Hikes. I have watched reports and can’t  seem to get to the bottom  of it. There has been suggestions  that Price Hikes are because  of infrastructure  costs such as pipes and wires but that simply doesn’t  add up. Surely  our taxation system  provided money to develop things like nuclear  power stations etc so why isn’t  the public in control  of these businesses?

British People are worse off year by year and it’s about to get worse

What is wrong with the British People and why are they such gluttons for punishment. Year by year our incomes become diminished through: utility price rises, spurious taxes (Sugar Tax), Rail Fare hikes and; the costs of goods, food and basic services increasing. Yet still our pay remains frozen or rises at a significantly lower rate than inflation and yet we still put up with it and muddle through. Britain is reverting back to the Victorian times again where we see: charities helping out the poorest sectors of society with a reliance upon philanthropy rather than state policies to support the poorest (which are more often than not the actual cause of the problems), massive rises in homelessness; and the belligerent exploitation of the plight of the poorest by wealthy landlords or unscrupulous employers. Most of us have become victims to this predatory behaviour from the wealthier classes either through our working conditions/practices or simply as a result of the all encompassing feedback we all get from Tory policies and their ideologies. Many of us are caught in a poverty trap just scrapping by and unable to afford to save to buy a home of our own. This simply will not do despite the sham, shallow concern expressed by Prime Minister Theresa May during her ‘JAM’ period, where she tried to convince you that she was concerned but time has revealed this not to be the case. This is position for which she has no real concerns for the plight of the exploited at all. Instead whole generations are being doomed to exist in this lifestyle: being exploited by low wages, few opportunities, dead end jobs or zero hours contracts.  The Tories have always insisted that work should pay and they have oft used this as their justification and rallying cry to persecute the poorest unfortunate enough to have to rely on the Benefits System with repeated systematic attacks on the Benefits System in the UK. Yet despite this for the majority in low paid employment work simply is not paying nor bringing about any sort of rewards at all that you would associate with the effort required. This is not good enough! There is really no hope in sight for change: or is there?

Continue reading British People are worse off year by year and it’s about to get worse

Angry about the Rail Fare Rises in Britain? What can you do?

If you are angry about Rail Fare rises the first thing you need to consider doing is voting out the government that brought in the unpopular privatisations in the first place. The Conservatives will never do anything to bring the Railways back in line. They continue to endorse and perpetuate this private enterprise and shareholding system and will continue to do so as long as they hold the balance of power in Britain. Even despite it’s obvious failings and poor deal for both the consumer and the country as a whole, Thatcherite principles will always prevail under Conservative administrations. Even though this current administration under Theresa May has not brought about the privatisation per se, even so her administration still endorses it and allows it to continue despite the poor deal it offers to both consumers and to the British public as a whole. Therefore you will only ever change things by working to bring about a government that supports public ownership. If you are a Tory supporter or Tory voter you have no right to complain about Rail Fare increases you are in fact endorsing this situation.

If you are interested in the Railways issue then please follow this link to We Own It which is a campaign to bring about public ownership of the Railways.

Competition is the way forward for the public ownership of Gas and Electricity in Britain

A sure fire way to get the utilities and railways back into public ownership and the less costly way of achieving this.

Yes I admire the ambition of the Labour Party Manifesto and it’s aim to get the Gas and Electricity utilities and railways back into public ownership. Success of this would lead to a more prosperous and fairer Britain and it would be the start of a new era for Britain. Yes it is high time to reverse the failed privatisations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and this would be a move which would put Britain on track again. However the scale and the cost of the task is dauntingly enormous and Thatcher knew how difficult it would be to ever go backwards. She tried to make her privatisations irreversible in an attempt to frustrate any attempts to ever develop socialism in Britain. She thought that she had had the final word but despite this there was a fundamental flaw in her plan and one which the Labour Party could exploit if it is savvy enough.

Continue reading Competition is the way forward for the public ownership of Gas and Electricity in Britain

Britain has been wrecked and bankrupted by the Privatisations of Thatcher and Major: it’s time to change it

Privatisations have not worked for the British Public. Privatisations have only been successful only for the shareholders and fatcats. It is now a failed experiment that needs to be addressed. The time for apathy about this issue is over. The privatisations of Margaret Thatcher and John Major have bankrupted Britain robbing money from the public purse and taking away any abilities of subsequent governments to invest in the infra-structure of Britain. The public have been cheated and robbed of their assets by these privatisations which now continue to hold their customers in contempt with massive price rises to satisfy the insatiable greed of the shareholders. These are Britain’s money making assets which have been taken away. It is time to come to our senses and put pressure on, or better still elect a government that is willing to tackle the issue  head on and do the right thing. The public need action not some tinkering and adjustment to tariffs : empty promises that never seem to come to anything. This issue needs a complete overhaul and reversal of these privatisations which occurred under Margaret Thatcher and John Major regimes. In all cases the public was mis-sold these privatisations on the promise that it would be good for the consumer and that it was in the consumers best interests to have and benefit from increased competition. However in all cases this has not proved to be the case at all. All we have seen instead is Cartel like behaviour and confusing and mis-leading and expensive pricing structures. The public need to own the Gas Supply Industry, the Electricity Supply Industry and the Railways. It is firmly in the interests of the British Public to do so. With the Capital that public ownership would generate we could improve the NHS, improve public services and start to significantly reduce the National Debt in the UK. It could spell an quicker end to Austerity Measures, which have been unnecessarily imposed on us by a Tory Government and Coalition which lacks any real vision or ambition for Britain.

Socialism is better for Britain. Socialism is neither Communism nor Militant

Socialism is better for Britain. Socialism offers Britain  a New start and a shining new path towards prosperity. Socialism is better for Britain  because it lowers the burden of taxation on tax payers. So why aren’t we embracing it.

Continue reading Socialism is better for Britain. Socialism is neither Communism nor Militant

Does Jeremy Corbyn deserve all his Left Wing Support?

Since winning another Labour Party Leadership Challenge it may appear to some that Jeremy Corbyn is unassailable. He may even believe so himself. It appears that the promise of change and a possible swing to the left helped propel Jeremy Corbyn back into the leadership post. In my opinion this was because he came across as the most left wing of the candidates. He had a longer left wing legacy that the newcomers. However so far we have seen nothing that radical from Mr Corbyn and nothing really that justifies all the left wing support he received to secure him another term as the Leader of the Labour Party.

Continue reading Does Jeremy Corbyn deserve all his Left Wing Support?