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UK Labour leader Keir Starmer has said if he wins the next general election, within 5 years he will have re-nationalised Britain’s railways. Phil asks Steve whether it naturally follows that this will lead to an improvement in services and lower fares? Steve reckons you any need to look at government run services elsewhere in Europe to answer that question – but Britain’s trains weren’t so great even in the days of British Rail, when they were in government hands. This time there’s a chance one of the key areas of investment will remain in private hands, negating the advantage of public ownership.
Railways are also an easy choice. Many franchise operators have fallen by the wayside, forcing the government to step in. Renationalisation was starting t happen by default. Ut what about water?  Nd, more significantly, what about the power industry. How can an industry that relies on making more money from customers operate in an environment where climate change is demanding we use less?
Phil and Steve discuss how Labour’s plans only seem to scratch the surface.  Th direction of travel is right, but they don’t seem to be heading very far down the line.
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There’s been a lot of speculation lately about the role of immigration and its impact on inflation. Does a flood of foreign workers push down wages, which contains cost and keeps prices down? Conversely, did the low immigration levels post-COVID add to the wage pressures because, combined with sickness from COVID, there were a lot less people for every job vacancy. It sounds sensible, but Steve believes it’s only a small part of the issue. And if did have the potential to increase labour supply governments are often negating the benefits by failing to invest money into the economy, putting pressure on services and creating another inflation dynamic.
We also hear from Ben, who has a few words to say on the recent Elon Musk episode and all the talk of emigrating to Mars. Apparently we ignored the sex angle. Ad Ben set the task for next week’s podcast. Feel free to add your own contribution by clicking on the mic logo at debunkingeconomics.com
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