Who owns Britain? In large part, other countries – and that should set alarm bells ringing

In 1994, I joined a march protesting against how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - backed by the US - were forcing governments in the global south to follow what was called the "Washington consensus". We argued that privatising state assets, deregulating markets, and liberalising financial services to attract external investment was leaving countries more unstable, more unequal and more dependent on foreign actors. Decades on, I am horrified that an approach that wreaked havoc in the global south is still being pursued in the UK. Britain was of course the trailblazer for privatising infrastructure in the…