Can't remember the exact stats but Thames Water needed something like cancellation of fines and a 40% water bill increase just to avoid bankruptcy.
Trouble is all the taxes (possible and existing) that have not been ruled out are ones with relatively narrow bases, where they have to be set at punitive levels to raise the amount of cash the government would actually need. VAT on school fees is "expected" to raise a billion or so but that is with an overnight 20% hike.
The problem with this is that since many of these companies are now foreign they would take the government to a dispute resolution tribunal for potential lost profits. Since these are quangos outside the UK judicial system they generally win their case and are awarded huge payouts in compensation.
Government's run scared of large multinational companies these days.
It's been done already with train lines. Although I don't know if the system of awarding companies to services is the same as with water.
Well then the UK govt needs to grow a pair and equip the regulator to deal with them. It is clear they are just fleecing the English public (Water is still nationalised in Scotland and I read somewhere that water in Wales is owned by a not for profit company)
Labour effectively nationalised the rail infrastructure in Britain in 2001 when it forced Railtrack into administration.
Didn't Most of those companies simply go bankrupy and throw in the towel ?
Covid put paid to it all and the UK govt moved to take back all the operator franchises and move them onto management contracts where the state takes the risk on income and spend and pays the private company to manage the service
**** stupid.
This is, if done right, one of the better systems in so far as you can still sack a particularly crap operator. Its basically what the Luas is here; and indeed all other public transport as contracts expire
That the biggest contractor here is state owned is a major difference, but we have Transdev (Luas), GoAhead (various bus routes) and many smaller bus operators under the same type of deal.
It's also how buses work under TfL in London and no one would be any the wiser. It's a perfectly fine system when done well.
Reform 1 point ahead. First time I think?
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49735-reform-now-1pt-ahead-of-the-tories-although-this-is-still-within-the-margin-of-error
Noticed Farage squeezed that into the ITVX debate that just started. Decided to stop watching..
As long as the regulator does their job and pricing, maps, tickets and livery stay aligned on the customer side it works perfectly fine and makes no difference to the user.
This is a good example of the duplicity in Labour's health plans. They talk as if the private health sector has surgeons, consultants, doctors, nurses, support staff and facilities lying idle ready to be used to treat the backlog. They generally do not and the government giving money to these private health companies actually makes the NHS worse. They really wanted to shut down Andrew Fisher before he spoke
I've lost some respect for Beth Rigby, I have to say.
This is absolutely pathetic:
Sunak ran from the ceremony. The document is supposed to present Labour as a credible party of government. Diplomatic relations with foreign leaders will be a big part of that. I don't know what point she's trying to make here.
What a stupid question. Portraying the fact they have carefully considered all their proposals and not been secretive about them as a negative. Excellent response at least.
Yeah. I've my reservations and a list of changes I'd like to see in British politics but at least we're moving away from the cult of charisma and clown show politics towards something more sensible, albeit flawed and uninspiring.
Just catching up on last nights Q&A
Few things I note
Either Rishi gives ZERO “”””” at this stage or he’s thick.
Beth’s approach to Rishi seemed a lot softer than on Keir. And here is me thinking all along it was Laura K who was secretly or not so secretly a Tory fan
Anyway. Only one of them came across as anyway credible and that was Keir.
Other fella is a waste of space
Rayner looks absolutely lost in this exchange during the ITV debate this evening - either she does not really care or she hates the fact that Starmer refuses to let any of his team speak about Brexit
Farage has demanded a one on one debate with Starmer as he feels he is now "leader of the opposition"
For once I am laughing with not at him. That's quality trolling of the Tories.
LOL,
He is a more than capable speaker, problem is, most of it is racist or lies, or both
This is pretty sharp by his standards though.
maybe he can explain why it is that one in ten of his candidates are Facebook friends with the leader of the British Fascist party (in fairness, probably his only friends, but still..)
Maybe he can explain when we're going to get to see his interview with Julian Assange. That was why he went to visit him in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2017, wasn't it?
"Privitised/privytised" it most certainly was.
Modern politics is so weird and disconcerting. We had Truss vs the lettuce. One of the world's leading democracies?! Sunak with his D-Day shambles, pretty poor apology and then 'ran over' comment. Was expecting a near double apology. In recent weeks, I've watched a few videos from Times Radio, which are admittedly a bit clickbait…I do wonder if the 'Tories are finished' narrative, which has been galloping along, might be a touch overstated, given there are still a few weeks to go.
I don't seriously believe stuff like the Conservatives being relegated to 3rd party status as the YouGov poll suggests, but if the polls havn't tightened by this time next week then everything is on the table.
I suspect the polls will tighten and Labour will probably win by around 10% over the Conservatives at the end of the day. The size of the majority will come down to tactical voting and reform taking votes from the Tories to cost them seats. In that case Labour may not need +45% to win a seat but 35% could be enough if the Conservatives are on 30% and Reform 25%. One of the podcasts I listen to in my bubble noted that one of the problems for the Conservative this election is that in almost all seats the Libdems and Labour are not fighting each other. That is why you aren't really seeing them attacking each other.
Now the SNP are going hard against Labour as they are their opposition in this election. The Conservatives are done in Scotland so Flynn from the SNP has been attacking Labour as much, if not more, than Sunak at PMQ's because they are more dangerous to them. That and it is also easy to go after the easy targets of immigration when it is not a problem in Scotland as it is in England (when I say problem, Scotland does not have as many immigrants as England so seeing other people isn't something that has really become noticeable in Scotland, not that immigrants are a problem). And also the majority of Scotland were in favour of Remain so saying Brexit was a mistake will not cost votes. Also, they can take those viewpoints that favour Scotland as they will never be in charge of the UK, they do not have to court those that voted for Brexit as they will always sit on opposition benches. The same for the Libdems, the Greens and Reform.
I also note the talk of a super majority being a problem. You only need a 20 seat majority and you can still do what you want. I don't see the difference between Johnson winning a 80 seat majority and Labour 240 seat majority. There is nothing the opposition can do to stop you no matter your majority and those newspapers now complaining about a huge victory conveniently did not mention this in 2019.
I suspect the polls will tighten
Why? What evidence is there that the Tories are doing anything to pander to disgruntled Tory voters or undecideds ?
At this stage in the campaign, I'm expecting them to be relegated to third place, and won't be at all surprised if they end up in fifth. That's where their French counterparts found themselves last week, for very similar reasons.
Not so much about the Tories doing anything right, more about history and the 1997 election showing what could happen. It will still mean a massive majority for Labour but Reform will most likely be found out the more scrutiny is paid to Farage and what they actually stand for so they will lose some of their current poll number back to the Conservatives. Add in those that just will not be able to vote for Labour on the day will mean a lower outcome.
That is just speculation and presuming no more gaffes from Sunak until voting day. If they continue to pee their pants then all bets are off.
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