Political Accountability

5 articles

Sep 16, 2025 • via The Guardian

The £200 Billion Extraction: How Privatisation Became Britain's Longest-Running Wealth Transfer

Four decades of privatisation have funneled £193bn from UK households to shareholders, while infrastructure decays and bills soar.

Since 1991, £193 billion has been extracted from British households and transferred to shareholders of privatised utilities, while promised competition and efficiency delivered polluted rivers, unreliable trains, and soaring bills. This isn't a policy debate anymore. It's a measurable wealth transfer operating at industrial scale.

Aug 29, 2025 • via The Telegraph

The Deputy Prime Minister's Three-Home Shell Game: A Masterclass in Legal Tax Avoidance

Angela Rayner's £40,000 Stamp Duty Dodge

Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary responsible for both council tax and election law, has orchestrated a property arrangement that saved her £40,000 in stamp duty while simultaneously ensuring taxpayers foot her London council tax bill.

Aug 9, 2025 • via i Paper

The Homelessness Minister Who Creates Homelessness:

Rushanara Ali's Dual Role as Advocate and Landlord

While Labour's homelessness minister Rushanara Ali denounces "private renters being exploited" in Westminster, she simultaneously evicted four tenants from her East London townhouse to increase the rent by 21 percent. The same politician championing legislation to prevent "unreasonable rent increases" raised her own rental price from £3,300 to £4,000 per month - a £700 monthly increase that would cost new tenants an additional £8,400 annually.

Jul 27, 2025 • via Financial Times

The End of the Social Contract: IMF Tells Britain to Start Charging for the NHS

When You Can't Afford Your Own Founding Principles, You're in Collapse

The IMF's recommendation to charge higher-income Britons for NHS access marks a fundamental shift in Britain's social contract. After decades of underfunding and mismanagement, the UK's founding principle of free healthcare is now deemed unaffordable. This isn't reform; it's surrender.

Jul 11, 2025 • via The Guardian

The Anatomy of Extraction: How Thames Water Turned Emergency Aid Into Executive Enrichment

Thames Water's executives pocketed £15.7m in bonuses while 16 million customers face hosepipe bans.

While 16 million customers face hosepipe bans this summer, Thames Water's executives have successfully converted a £3bn emergency lifeline into personal windfalls totaling £15.7m. The company that can't maintain water supplies during a shortage somehow found £2.46m to pay 21 managers in April—from funds meant to prevent corporate collapse.