Archive for March 17th, 2009
17th March 2009
Laissez-faire has had its day, says Brown, so let’s privatise
Reports over the weekend suggested that Labour UK Chancellor, Alistair Darling, is set to announce that plans to privatise the Royal Mint are further advanced than earlier thought, and may well make an announcement in next month’s Budget. In Wales only Plaid opposes the move. (Vince Cable of the Liberal Democrats went on record in 2004 to promote privatisation of the Royal Mint as part of their privatisation agenda)
When I asked the government a direct question in December as to whether privatisation of Royal Mint was on the cards, they point blank refused to answer. It’s clear that this was their intention all along.
Worse than that, I was accused by the Secretary of State for Wales back in November of ‘reading too much into a single sentence. Perhaps if he had taken the issue as seriously as I did at the time then he would have gone to Cabinet and insisted on knowing the truth.As it is, if the Secretary of State for Wales can’t influence or be bothered to try to influence cabinet decisions in our favour, then what, exactly is his purpose at the table?
Llantrisant is an area that has already been hard hit by job losses from L’Oreal and Bosch, and the possibility of further cuts at the Royal Mint will impact severely upon the morale and the economy of the surrounding area.
This Government has reached the point where it out-Tories the Tories with a mantra of ‘if it moves, privatise it’. This is appalling news on a day when the government will be discussing privatising job-centres and while they are still pushing forward with their privatisation plans for the Royal Mail. Does anyone seriously believe that, 25 years after they failed the miners, the Labour Party in any way stands up for the rights of ordinary workers in this country?