The pledges addressed rail, water, energy and broadband.

All four candidates for the Labour leadership have signed a series of pledges on public ownership, according to the We Own It campaign.

The candidates signed all ten pledges, which were on the NHS, schools, water, energy, Royal Mail, broadband, rail, the justice system and council outsourcing.

The plegdes were:

• “I commit to end NHS privatisation and reinstate the NHS on the basis of its founding principles.”
• “I commit to ending the academies and free schools project, ensuring that all schools are under local democratic control and making them locally accountable.”
• “I commit to replacing the privatised water companies with a publicly owned system that is democratically run and accountable to the public.”
• “I commit to replacing the privatised transmission and distribution companies with publicly owned national and regional companies which are democratically run and accountable to the public, enabling local authorities to develop renewable generation and supply, and enabling public investment and ownership of offshore wind.”
• “I commit to reversing the privatisation of the Royal Mail and having it run as a publicly owned institution.”
• “I commit to rolling out full-fibre broadband for all through a publicly owned broadband infrastructure provider.”
• “I commit to giving all local authorities the powers to bring their buses into public control and supporting them and encouraging them to move to not-for-dividend municipal ownership”.
• “I commit to bringing the railway in its entirety into public ownership, under a unified and democratically accountable network”.
• “I oppose profit-making in the justice system and commit to bringing all prisons and the probation service wholly back in house.”
• “I oppose the outsourcing of local government services and commit to making it easier for local councils to deliver their own services in house.

Commenting, Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said:

“It’s fantastic to see that all four candidates for the leadership of the Labour Party, and three for the deputy leadership, have committed to public ownership in ten key areas. These candidates have shown their dedication to ending the forty year rip-off of privatisation, and building public services that work for people, not profit.

“Public ownership is hugely popular with the public – and it’s absolutely vital that the next leadership team maintains the Labour Party’s commitment to taking back our services from profit hungry private companies.

“We’ve seen just this week with Northern Rail the chaos caused by privatisation. It’s time we ended this farce once and for all so shareholders can’t keep siphoning off profits from staggering fares, eye-watering bills and shoddy services.

“Privatisation has totally failed to tackle the challenges of the 21st century – most of all the climate emergency. If we’re serious about getting people out of cars and planes, conserving water and transitioning to renewable energy, we have to bring our vital services into public hands.”

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