Finance (No. 3) Bill

Debate between Lyn Brown and Leo Docherty

Committee: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Monday 19th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Leo Docherty]

You are absolutely right, Sir Lindsay. I certainly will not be tempted to stray from the clauses and new clauses that we are considering.

It is, of course, important to consider the approach to ownership of private property that the shadow Chancellor and his party laid out last year in a document that Members can obtain from the Library, entitled “Alternative Models of Ownership”.

[Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)]

Why is this relevant?

[Leo Docherty]

It is relevant because it puts renationalisation at the front and centre of the Labour party’s economic policy. Regrettably, there are no figures in the document. That is because the cost of renationalisation, calculated by the Centre for Policy Studies, would be £176 billion: £6,471 for every single household. That is a deeply alarming fact.

That approach was given further voice when, just last week, the shadow Chancellor made a speech at an event hosted by Red Pepper. He discussed his broad economic approach, and his approach to tax and private property. He promised that the Labour manifesto would be even more radical than the last. This is relevant because, referring to Labour’s approach to the private ownership of land, the shadow Chancellor said:

“One of the big issues we’re now talking about is land, how do we go about looking at collective ownership of land”.