A think tank designing ownership models for a democratic and sustainable economy.
Joined April 2019
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Welcome to Rip-Off Britain.
A country remade by privatisation.
Our latest project — Who Owns Britain? — explores how a radical experiment transformed our society and shapes your life.
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Common Wealth retweeted
One year ago, @Cmmonwealth and @cplusci founded Transition Security Project to investigate the UK & US military industrial complexes — and understand how they threaten our economies, climate and global safety.
Here’s what we’ve been up to since then 🧵
Centrica wants to close Rough gas storage facility — a critical piece of energy infrastructure — because it isn't profitable.
The needs of the energy system are coming second to private incentives.
Public ownership of Rough can better guarantee a secure system.
Common Wealth retweeted
When we're told the UK has had a ‘peace dividend’, we must realise that our military budget is higher in real terms than it was during the Cold War.
@KhemRogaly breaks down myths about Britain's soaring military spending on @novaramedia.
“Public ownership is what 90 per cent of the world does and what 82 per cent of the British public want because they see the failures of privatisation.”
“Crystal Clear,” our recent briefing on the roadmap to public water ownership, featured in The Lead👇
national.thelead.uk/p/the-le…
Common Wealth retweeted
The British military wastes billions every year sustaining overseas operations. We don’t need more military spending. We need a new foreign policy.
Our latest report @TransitionSec estimates the costs of Britain’s global military strategy and its overseas deployments.
Common Wealth retweeted
NEW: Keir Starmer declared last year that the “peace dividend” was over, promoting the myth that Britain’s military spending has declined since the end of the Cold War.
Our latest report shows this simply isn’t true. 🧵
Control without ownership?
In a recent op-ed, Will Hutton & Andy Haldane have proposed a way forward for the UK's failing water industry: introduce new guardrails, but keep water companies in private hands.
@chrismwhayes explains why this plan is ill-founded – and why only public ownership can fix this broken system.
common-wealth.org/publicatio…
"The state has a lower cost of capital that will make it highly competitive. Competition should, over time, lower bills, speed up rollout and increase investment into the grid."
@DantonsHead in @thetimes on the plan for a public energy grid company.
thetimes.com/business/compan…
Energy bills are set to rise for millions of households from Thursday.
Our Director is part of a group of experts and campaigners that has written to the Chancellor, warning that “failure to take action would risk deepening the cost of living crisis.”
theguardian.com/money/2026/o…
“One of the things we’re pushing for… is a ‘failure to prevent’ duty. This would ask companies to actively prevent things from happening, rather than just holding companies responsible after the fact.”
Leela Jadhav on @Channel4 about corporate accountability after Grenfell 👇
Nine years after Grenfell, the Met Police is filing charges against some of the companies involved.
Read our report on Arconic — the company that produced the cladding behind the fire — to understand how these companies dodged accountability for so long.
common-wealth.org/publicatio…
"As the Prime Minister declared in Liverpool: privatisation of the water industry in England has failed. Debate is now not whether change is needed, but in what form."
Read an extract from our new briefing "Crystal Clear" on our Substack:
cmmonwealth.substack.com/p/w…
And to stay in the loop with updates from Common Wealth, subscribe to our Substack here 👇
cmmonwealth.substack.com/?r=…
“If done well, this could be a win-win. It could speed up the grid, make returns flow better to the public, and help lower energy costs for businesses and households.”
@DantonsHead discusses Andy Burnham’s new plan for a public electricity grid company on @BBCScotland 👇
Common Wealth retweeted
Unlike elsewhere in Europe, UK publicly owned companies weigh on the public finances.
My latest report for @Cmmonwealth sets out options for new accounting and fiscal rules that could unlock the autonomous investment capacity of UK public corporations.
common-wealth.org/publicatio…
Common Wealth retweeted
Further reporting on my @Cmmonwealth report on publicly owned companies and national accounting/fiscal rules from @business (@PhilAldrick)
Britain is wasting an opportunity to invest billions of pounds in infrastructure by sticking to national accounting rules that prevent arms-length government bodies from borrowing on their own account, the Common Wealth think tank said bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
"The jury's out as to what [Burnham's announcement] will actually mean, but it is a step forwards for what I think the public want, which is taking water back... into public hands."
Our director @DantonsHead rounded up the PM's speech at Labour Party Conference for @BBCNews.
Our new briefing by @S_Gasperin how to unleash the investment potential of UK publicly owned companies in @business today. 👇
Britain is wasting an opportunity to invest billions of pounds in infrastructure by sticking to national accounting rules that prevent arms-length government bodies from borrowing on their own account, the Common Wealth think tank said bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Read the full briefing:
common-wealth.org/publicatio…