Last week’s poll: nationalisation of services and utilities

The Labour Party’s manifesto for the upcoming general election includes pledges to take several industries into public ownership; which would represent the largest nationalisation programme since the 1970s. Although in past decades many industries, including car manufacturers, were state-owned, the current manifesto confines itself to service industries and utilities. Jeremy Corbyn’s party proposes nationalising the Royal Mail, rail-operating companies, energy supply networks and water and sewerage companies, plus the eye-catching pledge of creating a state-owned broadband Internet supplier with free full-fibre coverage for all by 2030 by nationalising BT Openreach.

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As all of these touch on engineering to some degree, we wanted to gauge readers of The Engineer on their thoughts. A third of respondents (33 per cent) oppose any form of nationalisation. While this was the most popular option, a total of 53 per cent - spread across two options - backed some form of nationalisation, with 23 per cent fully behind it and 30 per cent supporting some sectors or services coming back under public ownership. Around one in seven (14 per cent) said they supported nationalisation in principle but had doubts over its capacity for success.