Rachel Reeves received £27,000 donation from the NHS’s new private landlord

Chancellor Rachel Reeves received a £27,000 donation from FGS Global, a lobbying firm owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). The thing is, KKR has its fingers in many pies and Reeves’ accepting the donation shows Labour’s priorities are in line with unbridled capitalist extraction. The Labour party itself also received around £17,000 from FGS Global in late May this year.

NHS: rent extraction – and Rachel Reeves has lapped it up

Private equity firm KKR is the NHS’ new landlord after buying up our healthcare infrastructure for £1.6bn with Stonepeak Partners. These firms will now be renting our NHS buildings to us rather than simply owning them ourselves. And Labour is overseeing the continued privatisation – with Rachel Reeves actually benefitting from it.

Fossil fuels: climate destruction

KKR also has large investments in fossil fuels. 78% of KKR’s energy portfolio companies are rooted in fossil fuels. One example is KKR’s £6.6bn funding of gas storage and transportation.

Labour, meanwhile, is propping up the fossil fuel industry with a £22bn bung to carbon capture projects that don’t work. It has also refused to deliver a publicly owned Green New Deal, risking climate destruction through a more expensive market solution to the climate crisis.

Build to Rent sector

KKR also has investments in the UK Build to Rent sector, which turns homes into assets we must rent from the transnational capitalist class. In April, KKR expanded its UK real estate portfolio, buying up Build to Rent properties in the Slate Yard in Manchester for £100m.

In February, Common Wealth warned that Labour’s 1.5m new homes risk being dominated by private equity firms in the Build to Rent sector like KKR. In Reeves’ budget, she pledged money for the Build to Rent sector in order to ‘crowd in’ private investment. That’s instead of treating homes as necessary shelter provided publicly and mandated as affordable to all.

Colonialism – and Rachel Reeves doesn’t care

KKR has also faced boycotts because of its links to illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. This includes KKR’s major investment in German media company Axel Springer, which runs ads for illegal Israeli developments in occupied Palestine.

Labour, meanwhile, has continued selling arms to Israel.

It’s clear KKR encompasses the worst of capitalist excess. And Labour are all for it too.

Featured image via the Canary