Corbyn onto a loser with renationalisation plans

With John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn saying a Labour government would renationalise energy companies, Matt Kilcoyne says that Labour are onto a loser picking the state just when dynamic markets are what the world needs to go green.

"Labour is right about one thing. The future of energy provision is decentralised, flexible and diverse. But their plans for renationalisation would threaten this by going in the exact opposite direction.

"The state is bad at picking winners, more often it subsidises losers. It is the trial and error of the private sector that will decarbonise our energy supply. Rigid state monopolies rarely innovate, but private sector competition is already driving down solar and wind costs. The freedom to experiment with new business models including dynamic pricing and home battery storage could be key to cutting emissions, but only the market can deliver it.

"The hidden cost of renationalisation is billions of foregone investment, just what's needed to turn our energy production green. Their ideological stance threatens not just our wallets and our ability to keep the lights on, but also how we deal with climate change."

For further comment, or to arrange an interview please contact Matt Kilcoyne (mobile: 07584778207, email: matt@adamsmith.org).