Economics of the Madhouse

John McDonnell MP reports on the Public Services Not Private Profit rally and lobby of Parliament. Morning Star, Wednesday 28th June 2006.

YESTERDAY saw one of the largest lobbies of Parliament by trade unionists in decades. The day of action brought together activists from 15 trade unions representing workers from across our public services. It marks the beginning of a backlash against new Labour's systematic privatisation programme.

The lobby was organised by a wide-ranging coalition of trade unions, MPs and campaigning groups under the banner Public Services Not Private Profit.

The origins of this campaign lie in the individual campaigns launched in recent years by trade unions and community organisations as particular services have been threatened with privatisation.

The progress made in the campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill has demonstrated the potential of joint trade union campaigning and lobbying. Over 180 MPs have now signed the early day motion supporting the Bill. This campaign has given the labour and trade union movement real campaigning momentum.

But the momentum of the Public Services Not Private Profit campaign would not have been achieved if it had not reflected the real strength of feeling among public service workers and the general public against new Labour's obsession with privatisation.

An opinion poll published this week demonstrates that members of the public fully understand what privatisation is all about.

Seventy-four per cent of those polled thought that the main priority of private companies running public services is to make profit. Only 17 per cent supported an increased role for the private sector in our public services.

Last year's public service pensions campaign reminded us all of the basic lesson that, when campaigning and working together in solidarity, the trade union movement can be successful in protecting its members' interests.

Public-service professionals understand what the Gordon Brown-led privatisation agenda is all about. They witness in their daily working lives the consequences of best value, market testing, public-private partnership, PFI and contestability - whatever euphemism new Labour uses, it is still privatisation.

Health workers see that, through the introduction of PFI, foundation hospitals and so-called choice, the government has expanded the NHS internal market that it so fiercely condemned in opposition.

The Chancellor's addiction to PFI, which has taken billions of pounds in public funds to subsidise the profits of private companies, is one of the main causes of the escalating NHS deficit and it has led to job cuts and closures of wards and hospitals.

One flagship PFI project, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust in Woolwich, declared itself technically bankrupt in December 2005 because of crippling PFI debt.

In the first 14 PFI hospitals alone, there were bed reductions averaging 30 per cent and cuts in staffing levels of 25 per cent. According to expert Professor Allyson Pollock, "there is no evidence to support government claims that PFI is value for money either for the taxpayer or for the user of services . markets and corporations plan for profit and not for need. The result will be widening inequalities in wealth and health and a return to fear".

Nonetheless, Gordon Brown announced a £26bn expansion of PFI across 200 public-sector projects in this year's budget.

Teachers know that new Labour has moved to undermine comprehensive education through the introduction of academy and trust schools.

Academies allow fundamentalist groups such as the Emmanuel Schools Foundation to peddle creationist dogma in our schools in exchange for a £2m donation. Trust schools will be able to set their own admissions policy and will be independent of the democratic accountability of local authorities.

These policies fly in the face of all the evidence. A recent OECD study revealed that it was countries with a more comprehensive education system, such as Canada and Finland, which had the greatest educational success.

Students report that, even before top-up fees come into force this September, the average debt owed by higher education students is £13,500. This is projected to increase to a staggering £33,708 by 2010. This prospect did not stop the Chancellor suggesting recently that the £3,000 cap on fees may be lifted when it is reviewed in 2009.

Civil servants can tell you that, in 2004, Brown announced the loss of 104,000 jobs, promising that the saving would go on front-line services. However, these cuts come while the government has been spending £1.5bn a year on private consultants.

In HM Revenue and Customs, private consultants are being paid a daily average of £750, while civil servants are being paid £120 for doing the same job. These are the economics of the madhouse.

Probation and prison officers are furious that the government is pressing ahead with the privatisation of their services despite the fact that proposals to effectively privatise the National Probation System that the government established in 2001 were supported by only four out 750 responses to a consultation exercise.

Even the BBC does not remain untouched by the policy of contracting out and outsourcing.

Yesterday, we came together in force to let MPs and government ministers know that enough is enough. The labour and trade union movement and, indeed, the general public, will no longer tolerate privatisation.

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