The cost of free broadband for all does look far closer to £100bn than £20bn. Openreach and Virgin's (who would be bankrupted) capital and operating costs somewhere close to £7bn at a glance. Then there's the additional costs of serving all rural areas. Then the cost of purchase.
Now, it can be funded but why would you spend £100bn+ on broadband that the majority are willing and able to pay for themselves? Why not put the considerable resource into #GreenNewDeal or #BasicIncome or lifelong learning or social care etc
The issue here isn't nationalisation costly though that is. The issue is the provision of a free service that most are willing and able to pay for. The deadweight loss is enormous. What a waste.
And finally, it undermines the intellectually credible argument that McDonnell has made for nationalisation that the state is buying an asset. This wouldn't be an asset. It would be pure liability. An expensive liability.
And 'free broadband' is where the logic of expansive 'Universal Basic Services' ends up: the state paying for things we don't need it to, at extraordinary cost, crowding out things we do need it to: investment in decarbonisation, economic security, learning, better care services.
