ABSTRACT
The main claims made for privatisation was that it would make state monopolies profitable by subjecting them to the winds of competition. A cost of privatisation is said to be the high fees paid to all the accountants, bankers, solicitors and underwriters who handled asset sales. Trade unions also have several answers to this contention. Trade unions claim to have direct evidence that in many areas the coming of privatisation has resulted in a deterioration of services. In the case of the National Health Service (NHS), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has made a concerted attempt to collect evidence from all major unions with members in the service. Naturally enough the TUC expressed pleasure at the results of their NOP survey. They claimed that it indicated that the government is losing the debate about public ownership. An unknown number of public sector employees may yet find themselves out of a job in the NHS, the Civil Service and local government.
