The Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, plans to introduce a Take Back Control Bill if elected as prime minister. Labour plans to spread control out of Westminster, devolvingnew powers over a range of services to the regions, giving local communities the opportunity to say which services they should control. 

But so much is out of control in Britain now that taking back control must also includethe full nationalisation of, or at least the key, strategic parts of public services and utilities. 

Privatisation ceded control to regulators who have proved to be inept and toothless, often “captured” by the companies they purport to regulate. The regulator, Ofgem, failingto check the viability of dozens of failed energy suppliers, cost the tax payer £2.7bn.The water company regulator, Ofwat, has said how “disappointing” it is that some companies are “falling behind in their investment plan”. We are the ones who are disappointed; disappointed that the regulator has failed to prevent the companies from turning our rivers and seas into sewers.

Currently, regulators have no power to limit the grotesque profits and large dividends derived from providing essential services. In the energy sector, the regional monopoly distribution networks extract eye-watering profit margins: 45% for gas and 42.5% for electricity distribution. In its 2019 manifesto Labour planned to establish a National Energy Agency, owning and operating energy transmission networks, setting standards and strategy, and devolving ownership and operation of energy distribution and supply to Regional Energy Agencies. This would restore democratic control of energy at national and local levels which is only possible under the auspices of public ownership: such essential devolution is impossible under market control.

We live in a “regulatory state” where the government hides behind regulators, blaming them for the gross excesses of the private sector, sometimes cajoling them to be firmer and, on rare occasions, threatening withdrawal of public funds from service providers. The business secretary, Grant Shapps, has ineffectually accused Ofgem of “having the wool pulled over their eyes” by energy companies. We have lost democratic control of essential services which have been turned into financial assets, largely owned by foreign companies.

Labour’s proposed Great British Energy company, working alongside the privatised energy sector, is a welcome initiative but leaves the current energy system intact. The fact is that the vast majority of the British people support the nationalisation of servicesand utilities. This brings to mind the cry uttered by Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, a leader of the 1848 French Revolution: “There go the people. I must follow them. I am their leader.” Time to catch up!