John McDonell: Labour will renationalise key industries like the railway

10 February 2018, 12:25

Shadow Chancellor John Mcdonnell spoke to Matt Frei about his newly announced plans to renationalise key UK industries.

John McDonnell MP told Matt Frei that Labour planned to "bring back into public ownership water, rail... and the Royal Mail."

The Shadow Chancellor said that opinion polls showed that the public was on Labour's side on the issue. He said "most people feel like they are being ripped off" by the privately owned utility company.

He also referenced the payouts to shareholders of "18 billion pounds whilst services deteriorate" he said we "can bring them back into public ownership and make sure they are managed efficiently."

McDonnell told LBC that renationalising could lead to investment 'in the services, make sure they are efficient and effective, and at the same time cut people's bills."

Matt challenged the Shadow Chancellor saying that the taxpayer would have to foot the bill for the shareholder payouts. McDonnell denied this stating that the whole process "will be cost-free" for taxpayers.

Frei continued to challenge the Shadow Chancellor, saying that whilst many people are upset with how services are delivered at the moment, those with long memories will remember the 1980s where vital UK services were under the government's domain and failed on a regular basis. McDonnell argued that the research shows that British trains were "more efficient than many of the services right across Europe" during the 1980s.