CEP: Brown's £16bn fire sale of England's assets

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Tuesday, 13, Oct 2009 12:00

Brown’s £16bn fire sale of Government assets expressly targets England’s assets. Scotland’s will hardly be affected. The devolution legislation which Brown more than anyone else engineered for Scotland in 1998 makes sure of that. The school playing fields and libraries of his Scottish constituency of Kirkcaldy are untouchable. But every single one in every single English constituency are now under threat and up for grabs by any rich punter from anywhere in the world. It is unfair.

‘Whatever the economic worth of Gordon Brown’s proposed sale of government assets which Vince Cable has derisively called a ‘government car boot sale’ and Stephanie Flanders has perceptively described as a ‘sort-term fix’, there is another aspect to it. It is very exploitative of England.’ This is the comment sent out by Michael Knowles member of the CEP National Council to all Campaign members. ‘All the major assets so far listed are either totally or predominately in England: the Dartford crossing, the cross-Channel rail link, the nationalised bookmaker the Tote, the government's 33% stake in Urenco and the invaluable real estate around St Pancras and Kings Cross stations.

‘But there are aspects of this fire sale of our English assets which in their way are even more pernicious and harmful. In the last resort English local councils, even county councils, are subject to Whitehall dictat in everything. That is why Brown made his announcement without consulting the Local Government Association in England, as Margaret Easton its chairman pointed out; and that is why every asset of all English local authorities could now be sold off over both the heads of local councillors and the electorate. No playing field, no library, no swimming bath, no leisure centre will be safe. This strikes at the very heart of England’s cultural, educational and sporting life. But not in Scotland. The 1998 devolution legislation which Brown himself steered through parliament, has put the ownership of all Scotland’s local government assets into Scottish local government hands. No UK government can touch them. The injustice to the people of England is severe. Just as they have borne the brunt of the cost of devolution, they are now about to pay for the government’s monumental mis-management of the national economy and finances. It is not fair.’