Privatisation isn't working. It's time for a public service users bill

This blog by We Own It founder Cat Hobbs was first published in Guardian Comment is free.

It's time for your voice to be heard on privatisation. The avalanche of public service sell-offs – from the Royal Mail to children's services, from blood plasma to search and rescue helicopters – has not encouraged public affection towards private contractors.

Our poll results, released today, show that 80% of people think there should always be a public sector option, 60% want public ownership to be the default, and four out of five want a say in whether public services are privatised.

No wonder that's what people think. Following the avalanche of sell-offs, there's been an avalanche of scandals, such as G4S getting paid for tagging prisoners who have died, pets being registered as court interpreters, and questions over Atos's ability to assess properly whether disabled people are fit to work.

Public services policy is being led by ideology, without reference to these scandals, public opinion, or an evidence base. There is clear evidence that privatisation and outsourcing aren't working. And our new report published today, Better in Public Hands, shows that public ownership offers a great alternative – with success stories from the UK and around the world.

Publicly owned services aren't always perfect, but they tend to be better quality, lower cost and more accountable. Private companies are great at making lots of things – from soya lattes to laptops. But it's misguided to hand them natural monopolies. Especially when they involve giving time and care to meeting people's basic needs. In the 21st century, public services should be about people, not profit, with staff, service users and communities working together to keep making them better.

We Own It is a voice for everyone who uses and pays for public services, and wants to see them in public hands. Today we ask you to join our campaign for a public service users bill. This bill would require local and national government to consider best practice public ownership before privatising, and in the bidding process. Government would consult the public before selling off services (like the Royal Mail), and give us a voice in outsourcing contracts. Organisations with a social purpose would be prioritised over profit-making companies.

We also need powers over the likes of G4S and Serco. Private companies running public services must be subject to freedom of information legislation, as promised by the shadow justice minister, Sadiq Khan. The private sector must release its financial and performance data, not hide behind a cloak of "commercial confidentiality". And we need a right to recall private companies who do a bad job. (A measure supported by 90% of Conservative voters.)

Privatisation and outsourcing have been ramped up with the handy excuse of "austerity". But the reality is that the private sector is bleeding us dry. East Coast rail has saved the taxpayer £600m in public ownership and if water was in public hands, household water bills would be about £80 a year cheaper. Many local authorities are choosing to bring services back in-house because it's cheaper and more efficient. 87% of Conservative voters support our demand for a public sector bid whenever contracts are let to check value for money.

While Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is way out of line with public opinion with his disingenuous "open public services" policy, his shadow, Jon Trickett, has responded positively to our call. He says: "The poll demonstrates that the public are deeply troubled by such an ideological approach."

This is a good start. The real test, of course, is whether Labour will commit to a public service users bill in its election manifesto. 69% of Labour voters believe the public sector is more accountable than the private sector when running public services. If you believe that too, please join us and help put pressure on party leaders.

The ideology of "private sector efficiency" has gained a lot of momentum over 30 years. But in a world where private companies are supposed to respond to consumer desires, private sector outsourcing is failing us. In a world where policy is supposed to be evidence-based, the evidence for public ownership is strong. And in a world where people expect more, not less, democracy, it's unwise to ignore public opinion about how public money is spent.

The people who use public services must have some powers vis-a-vis giant companies such as Care UK and A4e. The days of privatisation-as-usual need to come to an end. Public service users expect much more – they expect public ownership.