Public ownership is supported by Leavers and Remainers - here's how we'd do it

Today we release new polling showing strong support for public ownership from Leavers and Remainers. We're publishing the polling alongside our new manifesto ‘how public ownership can give us real control’. This supports proposals to bring the railways, energy and Royal Mail into public ownership and covers other areas including water, the NHS, council services and social care. 

The polling, carried out by Survation, shows that 73% of Leavers and 77% of Remainers want to see more or the same level of public ownership after Brexit. Only 12% of Leavers and 13% of Remainers want to see less public ownership. 77% of both Leavers and Remainers said that public services were an important factor in their vote in the EU referendum.

Public ownership would save us money and it’s hugely popular across the political spectrum. Local and national public ownership can give us real control and improve our lives. We need to take back what we've lost, protect what we have and create the public ownership of the future.

Leavers and Remainers support public ownership across a range of public services:

• 54% of Leavers and 52% of Remainers want energy to be run by the public sector
• 59% of Leavers and 63% of Remainers want water to be run by the public sector
• 62% of Leavers and 60% of Remainers think rail privatisation has failed
• 62% of Leavers and 54% of Remainers would prefer to see more in-house services run by councils
• 79% of Leavers and 81% of Remainers want a public NHS
• 74% of Leavers and 77% of Remainers want social care to be public
• 79% of Leavers and 78% of Remainers want schools to be public

Our manifesto explains that we could save £1.2 billion a year from bringing the railway into public ownership. Each rail franchise could be brought in-house as they expire which would avoid the need to compensate train operating companies. When the East Coast line was run in public ownership between 2009 and 2014 it was the most efficient franchise in the UK, returning £1 billion to the Treasury.

Bringing energy into public ownership would pay for itself in 10 years. Instead of buying out the Big Six, new local energy companies would be created to compete with them. This has happened in Germany, where public companies have captured up to 50% of the market.

On the Royal Mail, our research shows the British public will be worse off in 10 years because of the Royal Mail sale. Public assets like the 500 year old Royal Mail should be run for the benefit of all of us with profits returning to the public purse. 67% of us want the Royal Mail to be in public hands.

Read the manifesto summary.