Urban dereg 'soon'
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• Britain's remaining local authority-owned bus companies look likely to be privatised if the Tories win the next election.
Prime Minister John Major is believed to be instructing that a Municipal Privatisation Bill should be ready immediately after a Conservative victory to ensure the rapid disposal of remaining local authority assets early in a new Parliament.
The Bill would give the Government powers to sell 38 bus companies, 25 provincial airports and 54 ports and harbours.
Local authorities have already been urged to sell off the municipal bus firms, but only seven have been privatised so far, and the news has received mixed reactions from municipal bus chiefs.
Reading Transport's managing director Rod Wilson says he is "really fairly ambivalent" about the announcement, "We have a very supportive local council which is very keen to develop public transport," he explains, but adds that "to be able to operate truly commercially would be an advantage".
George Hurst, managing director of Warrington Borough Transport, is concerned that the timing of the sell-off could be damaging: "The bus industry has a lot of instability in it with companies trying to come to terms with deregulation," he says. "Another major change forced on us at this point of time is asking too much."