Correction: JC will nationalise banks

In a recent blog I said Jeremy Corbyn doesn't intend to nationalise the banks if he becomes the next Prime Minister. This morning, however, he has suggested that rather than selling off RBS as the government is doing piece by piece, the nation as a whole would be better served if it were to remain in public hands.

The sell-off of shares this morning will accrue £1.2 billion, which, according to George Osborne, will be used to reduce the national debt. This despite the fact that the British public will be losing out to the tune of  £1 billion because the share price has been set at an unrealistically low figure. Reducing the national debt, George? Really? Most advanced industrial countries have vast national debts, many of them, like us, running at around the same as their GDP. In fact our debt is only 91% of our GDP. For other countries it is a lot higher, like Japan,where it is 226%, or Belgium, where it is 102%. Even the US, with all its vast natural resources and huge manufacturing base, it is 72%. We have had a substantial national debt at least since 1815, yet somehow the nation has not gone down the tubes. Yet now, for some reason, reducing it comes before preserving vital public services like libraries, community centres and many other services now under threat because of the huge cuts in public spending the Tories have introduced. It's not financial prudence we're talking about here, its politics, pure and simple.

RBS is one of the biggest banks in the world, and was when it nearly went tits up in 2008. Understandably, the Labour administration felt it had to protect people's savings, and bailed it out to the tune of several hundred billions. Slowly but surely RBS has climbed out of the pit it dug for itself through its own greed, but now, just when it looks like that, given a couple more years, it might actually be paying a dividend to the people of Britain who own it,, the Tories are selling it off at a discount price.

I find myself in full agreement with JC on this one, only I would go a little further. I say nationalise all the major banks, and the utilities and railways as well. I know the record of nationalised companies hasn't been great, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done better this time. And as for compensating the present owners, let's do what we've done for at least the last 200 years: add it to the national debt and remain calm.