One third of current public spending on services, £80 billion, is channelled through private sector companies. Although they deliver services demanded and paid for by taxpayers, their employees are not ‘public servants’. They are not subject to the disciplines, procedures and expectations attached to government employees. Instead they are part of an industry growing in size, ambition and confidence – the Public Services Industry (PSI). Welcome to the world of the New Corporate State.
This month sees the launch of Stephen Wilks’ new book The Political Power of the Business Corporation – ‘an important book, not only because it helps to fill a gap in a still under developed literature on the political role of the modern corporation, but because it raises important and disturbing questions about contemporary democracy’ (Wyn Grant, University of Warwick). In the related article below, Professor Wilks discusses the causes and consequences of business corporations entering government, explaining that, with this privilege, must come accountability.
August 6, 2013
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