Power To The People

We used to own our power supply. The whole nation, as such, owned it, and kept prices down through the democratic political process. But now it is largely owned, not just by foreigners, but by a foreign state.

As it happens, that foreign state is the French foreign state. But that is beside the point. If it were the American foreign state, or the Chinese foreign state, or the Centrafrican foreign state, then the situation would be just as objectionable in principle. And, for hard-pressed domestic consumers, just as oppressive in practice.

Long ago, Labour believed in British sovereignty. Even longer ago, so did the Tories. If either still did, then it would be calling for a ban on foreign (never mind foreign government) ownership of our key national assets, a ban guaranteed by the public ownership of those assets. But neither believes in any such thing any more, and the Tories haven’t at almost any time in living memory, least of all under Margaret Thatcher. So no such call is being made.