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Like most diabetics my age, I have a long-standing problem with my feet. So I’ve had to rely a lot on podiatrist NHS services to help me.

The contract to provide them was recently put out to tender. Branson’s Virgin Care offered a competitive bid. However, it was beaten by a social enterprise co-operative called the City Health Care Partnership (CHC).

It won because it offered greater value and promised to regularly monitor its services to the public.

The case for using co-ops has become more compelling in the light of the scandal over outsourcing to private sector companies like Carillion , which went bust, and Capita , which has issued a profit warning.

Both have debts of more than £1billion, pensions deficits of hundreds of millions of pounds and half of their contracts with the public sector.

(Image: Getty)

Instead of making fat cat bonuses and profit the priority, co-ops put the people first by giving them and the employees a stake in the not-for-profit company.

Ideally we should see all NHS contracts back in house.

But this will take time and, in the short-term until we build capacity to do that, we must put patients first.

And across all our public services, co-ops could be the best way of letting the people take back control.

Take our railways.

Virgin and Stagecoach have made a right mess of the East Coast Line. They’ve admitted they overbid for it, can’t make the profits they’d like and are handing back the franchise three years early to get out of paying the taxpayer £2billion.

So why don’t we set it up as a co-op?

Let the passengers and workers oversee the train service with the Department for Transport running the line. Housing and energy can also be run as co-operatives. People join a co-op to get a home, pay low rent to live there and then hand the home back when they move. People are put before profit.

(Image: PA)

And Robin Hood Energy has been set up by Nottingham City Council as a not-for-profit company to provide gas and electricity.

With no private shareholders or directors, the benefits are passed on to the customers.

And we can make our councils more co-operative too. Preston City Council was hit hard by the aftermath of the financial crash, caused by the global greed of bankers.

A massive shopping development was stalled and Preston found itself with huge cuts to its central government grant. So it chose to take some of the contracts back in house, pay workers the living wage and invest locally by giving work to small local companies and co-operatives. Instead of using big multinational companies to provide services, it gave locals a chance.

And it boosted the local economy. For every £1 spent with a small local business, 63p is re-spent locally. From trains to our NHS, outsourcing has ripped the heart out of our public services.

Co-operatives, not-for-profits and greater public control are making the case for being more efficient and effective than City shysters like Carillion and Capita.

Labour pledged in its last manifesto to double the size of the co-operative sector in its first term in government. Next week Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will spell out alternative models of public ownership, with co-ops playing a huge role.

If people really want to take back control, letting the public have a greater say in how we actually run our services is the best way to do it.

It’s time for us to co-operate.