The UK Prime Minister may have the regal touch in northern England, but he’s been wrong-footed on the constitutional challenges posed by the Celtic Alliance of first ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, argues KENNY MacASKILL
THIS government’s obsession with outsourcing public services to the private sector has led to some catastrophic failures in recent years.
Specifically, January marked a year since one of the UK’s largest suppliers to the public sector, Carillion, collapsed, leaving a trail of devastation in its wake.
Since then, the public have footed the bill for the £148 million spent wrapping up Carillion’s accounts, despite the Tories insisting that “shareholders and not the taxpayer (are) taking the burden on this.”
The Labour government must deliver on its commitment to bring back privatised services into the public sector. This not only saves money but also creates accountability and generates wider social benefits, argues ANDY MCDONALD MP
PCS is demanding the long-overdue return of essential services to public ownership, explains FRAN HEATHCOTE
Despite promises of a new era of insourcing, billions of pounds of public contracts continue to flow to private firms. Unions are now calling for urgent action to bring services back in-house, says EDDIE DEMPSEY
Outsourcing is at the heart of inequality. Only collective unity in the trade union movement can topple the Establishment’s obsession with it, says SAM GURNEY


