How Thatcher destroyed Britain.

1970s Britain owned its water, transport, mail, energy, millions of council houses and sat on a huge North Sea reserve. The national debt was £80bn. 2022 Britain has no assets & a national debt of £2.5Tn. Neoliberalism started by Thatcher has destroyed the UK. Nick Abbott

She sold off all our assets for a song! All the profits now zip straight off into the hands of foreign owners and off-shore tax havens.

The privatised companies are starved off cash and provide terrible service.

The trains are old, poorly maintained, overcrowded and hugely expensive.

Water companies are polluting our beaches and rivers with raw sewage.

The Royal Mail is obscenely expensive and inefficient. We have an army of vans belting here and there to deliver packages with the harassed drivers on a pittance.

The energy companies charge the earth and make obscene profits for foreign investors.

There is a huge shortage of council housing.

She wasted all the enormous revenue from North Sea oil to beat the unions into submission. We now have terrible low pay, lousy conditions and zero-hours contracts.

Then there’s all the deregulation – to boost profits without a thought for environment, safety or the long-term impact. That led to the financial crash.

It was all short-term gain and long-term loss!!

What an absolute mess the Tories have made of Britain! Everything is based on making profit for the wealthy. They’ve made us poor and are driving us into the ground.

As Ry Cooder said – ‘How can a poor man stand such times and live?’

The evils of Neoliberalism, austerity and private ownership where our lives are run for profit.

Neoliberalism or neo-liberalism[1] refers primarily to the 20th-century resurgence of 19th-century ideas associated with laissez-faire economic liberalism.[2]:7 Such ideas include economic liberalization policies such as privatization, austerity, deregulation, free trade,[3] and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society.

Benn equates it to modern day slavery. Industry is run by a small wealthy elite for profit. We are all put into debt so that we have no option but to serve the machine.

This is a great little speech.

I saw Tony Benn about ten years ago and he was brilliant. This sums it up for me.