‘Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so.’ (William Shakespeare)
The recent Scottish Government consultation on the forestry provisions within the Climate Change Bill have been largely welcomed except for some fears expressed about the proposals to lease around 25% of the forest estate to private companies. Understandably some people have reservations because the term ‘privatisation’ has earned such negative connotations although what is intended is to sell off leases rather than outright privatisation.
The Westminster Government’s plans to part privatise the Post Office again touch this raw nerve although here the worst fears of both politicians and people are merited. Privatisation of public utilities has been very profitable for some, at the expense of the public and of quality of service, and most people see this as the start of a slippery slope where the Post Office is cherry picked for profitable activities.
Both of these issues are important for Argyll and Bute but they are also part of a wider debate about public versus private. In Scotland the PFI flagship was the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. This should have cost £180million but under PFI will end up costing the taxpayer more than £1 billion. It is important that we find alternative funding methods for such projects that offer better value.
Private procurement of public projects and of service delivery seems to be characterised by inordinate profits and greed whereas public procurement is often beset by delays, cost over-runs and inefficiencies. In truth neither one is good nor bad, although for Scottish sensibilities, public provision of monopolistic services somehow sits more comfortably.
This is reflected in Professor Allyson Pollack, the leading campaigner against NHS privatisation, having moved from England to Scotland where the creeping privatisation of the NHS has not progressed so far. She feels the battle has been lost in England but may yet be won in Scotland.
The emerging ethos of ethical business has been given fresh impetus as we have seen what damage a banking system bent on inordinate profits has done, both to themselves and to the economy. Private business can at times be more innovative and less risk averse than the public sector but a place remains for public provision and procurement especially where a monopoly exists or where the democratic ideals of equality of service are otherwise impossible to provide.
This is why public sector reform is so important. If we are to continue to afford public services they must be modern, streamlined, efficient and customer focussed.
Allyson Pollack is quite correct to discern a different set of values in Scotland, forged as they were by both Adam Smith and Robert Burns. First Minister, Alex Salmond, expresses this as ‘soft hearts and hard heads’ and having both, we know just where, in this middle ground between public and private, we ought to be.
Mike Mackenzie is one of the Prospective Westminster Parliamentary Candidates for Argyll and Bute