 'A Poll Tax on wheels': Might the move to privatise rail in Britain have failed?Robert Jupe Business History, 2011, vol. 53, issue 3, 324-343 Abstract: Rail privatisation was a controversial, widely unpopular policy whose implementation was not inevitable. This article employs counterfactual history methodology to examine whether the move to rail privatisation in Britain might have failed. It places the privatisation proposals in context by examining opposition within the Conservative Party and British Rail. The paper then focuses on three key counterfactual questions, including the significance of New Labour's reversal of its commitment to renationalise rail under its 'third way' policy and the possible consequences had the move to privatise rail failed. Based on the historical evidence available, it concludes that the move to rail privatisation could have failed, and that performance would have been better had rail remained an integrated, nationalised industry. Keywords: rail privatisation; Railtrack; Network Rail; British Rail; New Labour; Third Way; counterfactual history (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:bushst:v:53:y:2011:i:3:p:324-343 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2011.565511 Access Statistics for this article Business History is currently edited by Professor John Wilson and Professor Steven Toms More articles in Business History from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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