Public Ownership:Past lessons from Labour Governments and Future Opportunities

The Labour Party has a long and complicated relationship with public ownership. Enshrined in Labour’s constitution from 1918 to 1995 as the ‘common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange’, nationalisation played a significant role in Labour’s first two majority governments in 1945-51 and 1964-70 and a limited role in their third 1974-79. Yet, following Tony Blair’s revision of Clause IV in 1995, nationalisation largely disappeared from Labour policy until its revival under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2015. However, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union now presents a new opportunity for Labour governments to revisit nationalisation.