A riveting experience written by Ewan Ben George

A riveting experience written by Ewan, Ben, George, Elke.

privatization /prʌɪvətʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/ noun: privatisation § the transfer of a business, industry, or service from public to private ownership and control. "the workers are opposing the privatization of the national rail company"

The rail industry as well as many other industries began being privatized during and after 1970. The rail industry was originally privatized like many other businesses to stir competition between them to improve the quality and effort put into their services. Flights and airports were privatised in 1987 alike to many other forms of transport

§ British gas was privatised in 1986 under Margaret Thatcher's government § Since 2017 it has been Labour Party policy to take back the distribution and transmission companies § Water distribution was privatised in 1989 for England Wales § In December 1990, the 12 regional companies that controlled the UK power grid were privatised

MORE INFORMATION § - The major nationalized industries that were privatized during the time were: British Telecom, British Gas, British Airways, The British Steel Corporation. § - These were sold under Margret Thatcher's successor John Major. § - Critics of privatization suggested that these public assets were undervalued and sold at a loss. § - Another Massive transfer of property ownership from public to the private sector was secured legislation, obliging local authorities to sell council houses at large discounts. § - In ten years 1. 3 million council houses were sold under right to buy.

§ Improved Efficiency: Privatised companies are more interested in profit and the company itself than a government run industry because they are more likely to cut costs and be less efficient compared to a privatized industry as they would have many more things to focus on. An example of this is BT and British Airways as since they were privatised, they have had improved efficiency and higher profits for the owners more than ever before. § Political Interference: Government run companies are PRIVATISATI ON PROS usually more focused on publicity compared to privatised companies. Government run companies sometimes employ too many workers and then quite hesitant to fire them due to the negative publicity which would end up creating inefficiency. § The Benefits Of Competition: It is argued that a private business would have more pressure from shareholders to be more efficient because if they didn't perform more efficiently, then the company could be taken over. A government run business would not have this pressure of being taken over which may lead them to be less efficient.

§ Less Money Towards The Government: After the privatization of most of the businesses in the UK, businesses became much more profitable than ever before. This means that the government misses out on money and would instead go to the owners and shareholders of the company which benefitted Owners of these businesses but affected the funds towards the government previously coming from the company § Rail Fragmentation: when the railways were privatized, they were split into different companies this meant that it can be unclear who controlled which part of the rail § The Hatfield crash was blamed on no one responsibility for safety PRIVATIZATI ON CONS