Nationalisation hurdles in the UK

UK opposition Labour party threatens to nationalise the national grid at below fair value

Labour, the official UK opposition party, announced on 16 May plans to renationalise the country's gas and power transmission system owner and operator National Grid and 14 distribution network operators (DNOs). The proposed reversal of more than three decades of reliance on private gas and electricity transmission networks would force shareholders to accept a discounted offer, paid in gilts. No OECD country has ever underpaid. "As a matter of international law, you need to pay market value compensation," says Dan Neidle, partner at law firm Clifford Chance. "Any investor that has access to an international investment treaty could sue you in an international arbitration tribunal—and you woul