The UK Labour Party is enjoying something of a bounce under Jeremy Corbyn. But as Brexit negotiations continue to throw up questions of how close the UK-EU relationship might be in future, Eve Livingston asks whether Corbyn’s nationalisation agenda is possible within the EU single market.
When Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party congregated this autumn for their third annual conference under his leadership, the mood was notably different than those previously. Buoyed by an impressive general election performance and increasing popularity in its aftermath, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell took to conference floor to announce a suite of radical policies including the nationalisation of the rail, energy, water, and postage industries. But while such bold rhetoric would usually grab headlines easily, much coverage focused instead on what was notably absent from the conference: a vote on the party’s Brexit position.
An eleventh hour emergency motion ultimately did see delegates voting to back the party’s stance in favour of single market and customs union membership for a transitional period of four years. But the decision did not put to bed a growing impatience with Labour’s lack of clarity on Brexit. Why was the party’s leadership so keen to avoid a vote?
The true answer may lie in the compatibility of Labour’s bold nationalisation agenda with European Union rules around state aid and European competition. In line with Labour leaders before him, and with socialist movements throughout history and across the world, Corbyn’s Labour advocates for the state ownership of key public services on the grounds of both social and economic responsibility. The UK’s major public utilities have a colourful past in this regard, with the majority having been placed into public ownership in the post-war 1940s and 1950s, only to be returned to the private sector under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives throughout the 1980s.
A large-scale nationalisation programme is therefore seen as symbolic of Labour’s recent lurch back towards their socialist roots, which emerged in a pre-EU economic context.
A large-scale nationalisation programme is therefore seen as symbolic of Labour’s recent lurch back towards their socialist roots, which emerged in a pre-EU economic context. Announcing these policies at conference, McDonnell stated in no uncertain terms: “building an economy for the many also means bringing ownership and control of the utilities and key services into the hands of people who use and work in them. Rail, water, energy, Royal Mail: we’re taking them back.”
But for as long as the United Kingdom is still a member of the EU and its single market, this might be news to its fellow member states who largely see themselves as part of a union explicitly designed to create as even a playing field as possible amongst its members. It is because of this that mass state ownership of this type is seemingly actively opposed within the Union.
While the EU does not overtly ban public ownership, or take any position on the legal formation of companies within its member states, the very design of the single market and the rules which govern it can instead be seen as operating to do exactly that: if the single market is founded on the principle that competition remains the most efficient method of economic governance, then state ownership would certainly seem to be in contravention of its philosophy, if not its rules.
If the single market is founded on the principle that competition remains the most efficient method of economic governance, then state ownership would certainly seem to be in contravention of its philosophy, if not its rules.
And indeed, relevant Articles within the EU’s treaties do exist for precisely this purpose; namely to prohibit member states from “distorting competition” by inflating their public sectors with government money at the expense of potential EU-wide competitors. While some exemptions are built into the rules to cater to specific circumstances, the regulations state that members must seek approval from the European Commission before granting any such state aid.
Where, then, does this leave Labour’s commitment to large-scale nationalisation of industry amidst sustained pressure for them to clarify their Brexit position? Interpretation of the relevant EU treaties varies - not all analyses see them as entirely incompatible with state ownership. In a report released in September 2017, Dr Andrea Biondi, Professor of European Law, and Dr Andy Tarrant of the People’s Pension, conclude that single market membership “does not provide any obvious barrier to the implementation in the UK of the measures contained in Labour’s 2017 election manifesto”.
Their argument, though, is based in part on a belief that the bulk of Labour’s proposals would fall under exemptions which have not necessarily been widely tested within the EU. While state ownership does exist throughout the Union, the vast majority of relevant companies have never been removed from public ownership, thus creating a different context to that of the UK where Labour proposes to return to public ownership industries which have already been bought out, and to do so on a grand scale. Where competition has previously been introduced to a market, and EU providers potentially already embedded in the supply chain, removing it again is a more challenging prospect.
While state ownership does exist throughout the Union, the vast majority of relevant companies have never been removed from public ownership, thus creating a different context to that of the UK where Labour proposes to return to public ownership industries which have already been bought out, and to do so on a grand scale.
Across the EU, not many test cases exist as to the feasibility of this type of nationalisation agenda within the single market. Where other examples of state ownership exist, it tends to be either excused under the agreed exemptions, or to have already been remoulded under pressure from the European Commission. France’s Emmanuel Macron, for example, this year renationalised a shipyard, thwarting an Italian firm’s takeover bid - but military infrastructure remains exempt from competition rules.
The publicly owned German bank KfW predates the formation of the EU but still had to reshape in 2002 under pressure from Brussels, splitting its commercial lending arm into a separate legal entity explicitly to stop the distortion of competition. Similarly, the nationalisation of the UK’s banks following the 2008 financial crisis required the permission of the EU, who soon became restless with the arrangement and asked that various parts were sold off.
Perhaps the most compelling comparison to an imagined Labour government’s programme is the case of Greece, whose socialist Syriza government in 2015 rejected an EU bailout offer contingent on the implementation of an austerity programme. Syriza proposed instead solving the country’s financial crisis with large-scale nationalisation. Despite this rejection of the EU’s terms being backed by a nationwide referendum, Syriza’s attempts at state aid were ultimately blocked by the troika of the European Commission, International Monetary Fund, and Central Bank. To this day, the country remains in a precarious financial situation - with widespread unemployment and poverty - calling into question the effectiveness of the EU’s preferred economic model.
It is within this context that many proponents of ‘lexit’, or left-wing Brexit, argued for a clean break from a neoliberal EU in which richer, bigger powers are seemingly able to walk all over poorer nations who risk failure by the economic ideology favoured in Brussels. The EU is a structurally capitalist institution, so it is argued, and socialism can never truly thrive within it. If recent polling - which suggests that the majority of the UK is in favour of both a Labour government and continued membership of the EU - is to be believed, then this might be uncomfortable thought for many. Is there any way forward within the EU for a UK led by a socialist Labour government?
The internal politics of the EU suggest that the reform needed to overcome such barriers would not be easily won. The EU as an institution considers the ‘four freedoms’ - of movement, people, trade, and capital - to be non-negotiable guiding principles. Its rules around competition and state aid definitively exist to protect these freedoms. The necessary changes would need to be large in scale, requiring the revision or amendment of EU treaties themselves. This is not only an arduous process in itself - it is also unlikely that proposals to make such a move would secure the support required.
While countries like Greece or Spain who may have general sympathy for state-funded programmes might support any hypothetical reforms, newer member states such as those in Eastern Europe, who see their developing economies as benefiting from EU competition as it exists, would be likely to oppose them. Ironically, this scenario potentially sees the very governance designed to stop larger and traditionally more powerful members from dominating, work to prohibit radical reform within the EU.
Is there any way forward within the EU for a UK led by a socialist Labour government?
The UK Labour party’s predicament, then, may be best placed somewhere between a rock and a hard place. A radical and optimistic policy platform under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership has seen a surge in support for the party. But this buzz around Corbyn’s Labour party comes at a time when support for a second EU referendum is at its highest, and public support for leaving the EU at its lowest since the 2016 UK referendum.
It might seem that the best way forward for Labour is to be upfront about this conflict so that it can focus its attention on being a pro-EU party advocating for relevant reform within the EU. Against the backdrop of a UK debate that has polarised opinion so extremely, and which often manifests itself in palatable simplifications, this may be a tall task.
Jeremy Corbyn has faced more challenges than most throughout his tumultuous leadership - navigating the Brexit negotiation period whilst making the case for socialist reform within the EU might prove to be his toughest yet.
Eve Livingston is a UK-based freelance journalist and writer specialising in politics, inequalities, and social justice issues. She has worked with a range of publications and broadcasters including The Guardian, The Independent, and the BBC. Find her on Twitter: @eve_rebecca.
Feature image: Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn speaking at the Labour Party General Election Launch, 9th May 2017 at Event City, Trafford, Manchester. Image: Sophie Brown [CC BY-SA 4.0]
