Broadband plan is two different policies melded into one...
1. industrial policy - of investing billions in a perceived strategic industry
2. On top, they have layered what they see as an election-friendly retail policy of free broadband.
Attempt at statist populism /1
1. industrial policy - of investing billions in a perceived strategic industry
2. On top, they have layered what they see as an election-friendly retail policy of free broadband.
Attempt at statist populism /1
... Wheras Mrs Thatcher turned the 1980s privatisations into a retail policy, share windfalls/ giveaways/ mass participation capitalism, this, four decades on seeks to achieve the exact reverse, turn state ownership into a retail policy - of free broadband for all. /2
This is part of a more general push by Labour into “Universal Basic Services” that McDonnell argues the country “cant afford not to invest in”... and for which he says there is an international consensus (eg IMF) on deploying cheap state borrowing /3
4. Industrial policy aims did not require state ownership and could have been achieved without giving it away for free for all. latter policy though does takes away the business model/ returns/ market and would require nationalisation. It’s the “free broadband” bit driving this.
Does require that voters in general trust politicians even more at a time when there seems to be very little trust... But question is how does it play in the key battleground - Labour 2017 voters who voted leave vs May? “Get Brexit done” promise vs “Get Broadband free” promise /5
Blog on all this on “universal basic services” and the attempt to marry a populist retail policy to state ownership...: bbc.co.uk/news/business-…
