Tag Archives: government property unit

Opinion: Should we be selling state assets to reduce debt and create jobs?

One of the unexpected by-products of the controversial privatisations of the 1980s was the discovery of shockingly poor real estate management by state bodies – a rare glimpse of a problem only brought to the surface when the need for proper balance sheets arose.

UK government departments and agencies have since been shown to exhibit appalling asset management, as any sweep through Public Accounts Committee (PAC) or National Audit Office (NAO) reports will demonstrate – stories of unused land & buildings, ‘forgotten’ landholdings, leases on punitive terms, opaque sale of land at below market prices. Government departments also own very large …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Mick Taylor
    @Tristan Ward. I do think that we do need higher tax rates than we have for the very rich and some way of taxing wealth, probably through land or property taxat...
  • Dennis Delice
    Hear hear! We need a rooted progressivism that values the individual within a democratised economy, including having stake in their community. I think we need t...
  • Hywel
    "For example where coursework represents 30~40% of the final mark, students take the coursework seriously, when it is 20% or lower many will skip the coursework...
  • Jana
    @ Tristan Ward “finding our party a more natural home.” I’m not sure about this. If Tories feel comfortable on our Party, we are too right-wing. I wel...
  • Hywel
    Out of interest what happens if he doesn't launch a leadership bid :-)...