Ecuador’s election wasn’t free — and its people will pay the price under President Noboa
Privatisation doesn’t work — so why has Starmer abandoned common ownership?
Recent history is riddled with examples of public money going to private firms that mess up the services they were paid to provide — so why would Labour sideline itself from being able to call out these scandals? SOLOMON HUGHES explains

KEIR STARMER said he has abandoned his anti-privatisation pledge on “common ownership” when he was challenged about the issue during a recent speech in Liverpool.
Starmer said his “approach here is pragmatic, not ideological.” But how pragmatic is it to accept privatisation, just as a new wave of privatisations and rip-offs wash over us all? It’s left Labour without a coherent approach to multiple crises.
Starmer’s original pledge that he made as part of his leadership campaign was: “Public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders,” and he would “support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water; end outsourcing in our NHS, local government and justice system.”
More from this author

Why is the Labour government so addicted to giving government jobs to Tories when it spent so long trying to oust them? In the hope the favour is returned the next time the Tories return to power, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

Israel’s number one death dealer supplying the IDF in its murderous campaigns against the Palestinians is now actively wining and dining our military top brass, looking to flog its blood-soaked wares, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

A new book shows the group’s close links to Labour Together, which hoodwinked the party membership into voting for Starmer on fake left promises. SOLOMON HUGHES attempts to get some answers about what ‘Blue Labour’ actually stands for