UK Labour to do asset sales

Reuters reports:

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to sell off 3 billion pounds (NZ$6.47bn) worth of government assets.

The asset sales will be carried out over the next two years, and include betting company the Tote, the cross-channel rail link between Britain and France, a portfolio of student loans and the government’s stake in uranium-processing firm Urenco.

The bridge and tunnel crossing over the River Thames at Dartford is also up for sale, and local authorities are expected to raise a further 13 billion pounds (NZ$28bn) through asset sales on top of 30 billion pounds (NZ$65bn) already identified in a 2007 report …

What a shame that the British Labour Party will sensibly sell some assets that are better in private hands, and the NZ National Party will not do the same.

The Labour and National consensus to rule out all assets sales, no matter how logical, is the most extreme in the western world.

I do not advocate National breaking its promise not to have asset sales during this term, but they’d better have a more rational policy going into the 2011 election. If Gordon Brown can do it, so can we.