Daily View 2×2: 2 July 2009

2 Big Stories

The news has a state vs public ownership flavour at the moment:

Passengers to pay price for crisis on the railways
“A series of big projects are in grave doubt after the collapse of the highest-earning franchise exposed a deepening hole in the rail budget.

National Express East Coast is to be renationalised after the parent company refused to honour a pledge to pay the Department for Transport £1.4 billion in the years to 2015.

The DfT will have to accept a much lower sum when it puts the franchise back out to tender and is likely to be forced to pay up to £500 million a year to other rail companies that have been hit by the recession and can recoup most of their losses from the taxpayer.” [Times]

Sale of Royal Mail stake shelved by ministers [FT]
Peter Mandelson told peers yesterday that there was “no prospect” of part-privatising Royal Mail at present, despite the postal services bill having already gone through the Lords.

“Market conditions have made it impossible to find a partner on terms that would make it value for money to the taxpayer,” the business secretary told the Lords. “When market conditions change . . . we will return to the issue.”

Government insiders admitted that “political reasons” had been behind the decision to shelve the sale.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

% rise!
Willie Rennie on the real decisions to be made on public finances.

Garden posters in Norwich North
More musing on election signage from Nich Starling.

Read more by or more about , , , or .
This entry was posted in Daily View.
Advert

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert



Recent Comments

  • Simon R
    HS2 has been very badly marketed. It actually is mostly about capacity. The West Coast Main Line (WCML) from London to the NorthWest has for years been ...
  • Nonconformistradical
    "HS2 is a very confusing issue" Indeed. When the real issue is not so much speed (or lack of) of railway journeys but inadequate capacity, especially in the ...
  • Christopher Haigh
    @peterwatson, HS2 is a very confusing issue.Its hard to work out whether it's a good or bad proje I wonder if anyone ever did a cost benefit analysis on it ?...
  • M E LARKIN
    With the cost of living having risen so dramatically, I don't think its unreasonable for a minimum wage to be at least £15/hr likewise the lowest level before ...
  • Katharine Pindar
    Thanks to all for developing an interesting debate here. I think we do have the means to end deep poverty and raise living standards in this country, if resourc...