Britain: pensioners’ misery under Blair’s privatizations

From London daily The Morning Star:

Price paid by poor

(Thursday 02 November 2006)

THE price of the criminal privatisation of Britain’s energy resources is likely to be paid by thousands of pensioners this winter unless the government acts quickly.

The blame lies not only with the Tories, who privatised oil, gas, electricity and coal in the first place, but also with new Labour, which has resisted calls to take these key services back into public ownership.

Those who peddled the privatisation message claimed that the mythical efficiencies of the private sector would deliver such savings as would guarantee lower bills for consumers.

The reality has been that privatisation released an orgy of greed, with assets sold off, staff numbers slashed, higher prices and profits sent through the roof.