Dispatches: Selling Off Britain

6 March 2011

***Any use of information in this release must credit "Channel 4's Dispatches***

Channel 4's Dispatches reveals some of the billions of pounds worth of assets we own as a nation - from the £595 millions of non-housing assets at Birmingham City Council to Middlesbrough Football Club stadium and huge houses for judges to use for free for overnight stays - and asks viewers and experts to decide which assets they would be willing to sell off. 

Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy will be joined by a host of experts including in this live studio debate which asks a studio of over 200 people to vote on what to sell off and what to keep. 

Some of the assets discussed and up for sale in the 'sell or not game' include: 

 

• Judges' residences - at least £15 million
• Birmingham - £595 million - Birmingham Council owns £595 million of non-housing assets including the NEC, shares in Birmingham airport, the Symphony Hall and 40% of the land in Birmingham.
• Armed forces £145 billion
• Stonehenge - £51.5 million
• Buckingham Palace - £935 million in 2008
• The Royal Mint- £59 million - Made into a limited company in 2009, some say The Royal Mint has already been made ready for privatization.
• Bank of England Sports Centre - £65 million
• Motorways - £100 billion
• The forests - £250 million
• Urenco - £900 million - Urenco is a company that enriches Uranium to fuel nuclear power plants and has cornered 25% of the global market. The UK government owns 33% of the company.
• The NHS - £40 billion
• Commonwealth Development Corporation £2.7 billion
• Service Stations - £42 million - The government owns the freehold of 21 service station sites which it leases to private companies on 50 year leases.
• Privy Council Silverware £4 million - As a nation we own £4m of ‘Heritage Silver' It is housed in 2 Carlton gardens, 9 Downing Street, and ‘Wellington, New Zealand'.
• Gibraltar - estimated £18 billion - The ‘rock' of Gibraltar located in the Iberian Peninsula, is a British held overseas territory the size of 2.25 sq miles.
• The British Museum at least £435 million (not including collections)
• Middlesbrough Football Club £28 million - The nation owns the freehold to Middlesborough Football Club's stadium and leases it to the club. Local councils also own the freehold to 24 other clubs around the country.
• The Government Wine Cellar - £800,000
• The Tote - £200 million
• Foreign Office Residences - £273 million

The choices won't be easy and we may have to sell some of the things that make us proud of who we are:  our heritage, our army, our land.   It could mean a smaller state, a bigger bolder private sector - a very different Britain. 

But if we can find enough national assets to sell, then we could pay off some of our spiralling national debt and avoid cutting thousands of jobs and services.  Viewers can play our 'sell or not game' online to vote on which assets you want us to flog or keep - www.channel4.com/sellornot - the results of which will be announced during the programme.

You can also follow the discussion on Twitter by using the hashtag #sellornot

Channel 4 News Economics Editor Faisal Islam, will be totting up the figures to find out how much UK plc is really worth.   

Dispatches also sends reporter Haydon Prowse on a roadtrip - from Buckingham Palace to Birmingham and Stonehenge to Middlesbrough - to hunt down some of the things we found we've been hording for years as a nation. 

These findings will be broadcast Dispatches: Selling off Britain on Monday 7 March at 8pm on Channel 4.

Notes to Editors:

Channel 4's Dispatches Website:  http://www.channel4.com/dispatches

‘Sell or Not' game: www.channel4.com/sellornot

Channel 4's Dispatches on Twitter:  http://twitter.com/C4Dispatches

Please note: All figures are rough and come from a variety of sources including the most recent UK's national assets register 2007, press reports, findaproperty.com, 2010 Defra evaluation, Adam Smith Institute, annual reports and accounts etc.