Keir Starmer’s pledge to use regulation rather than nationalisation to fix our public utilities could not be more ill-timed or depressing for families struggling with exorbitant energy price hikes (Starmer says he won’t be ‘ideological’ amid renationalisation row, 25 July).
It comes a day after the House of Commons business, energy and industrial strategy committee produced a scathing report into Ofgem’s failure to prioritise regulation over competition, with shocking examples of the collapse of numerous energy suppliers in the last two years, notably Bulb Energy, that have required multimillion-pound bailouts by the taxpayer, leaving consumers scrambling to find alternative suppliers.
This indictment of our broken regulatory system and promise to fix it is nothing new, and has blighted successive governments since Margaret Thatcher unleashed privatisation some four decades ago. Belief that this time regulation can be a substitution for nationalising our most strategic public services is sadly misplaced.
Paul Dolan
Northwich, Cheshire
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