One of the best-known scenes from the TV series The Inbetweeners is the four angst-ridden teenage characters shouting abuse at people queueing at a bus stop. Only losers take the bus, is the point – except they use a much ruder word. There’s also a statement, misattributed to Margaret Thatcher, that any man over the age of 26 using a bus was a loser. This idea is deeply ingrained.

But when I was an MP it became obvious that there wasn’t the same stigma attached to jumping on the bus in London as there often was in other big cities. It often wound me up that the rest of the country was expected to accept a suboptimal public transport system – so much so that it could be joked that only losers would use it – while London retained its excellent bus service, which it ran under public control.

And I remember thinking: why can’t we have something like this at home in Liverpool? Well, last weekend Liverpool city region combined authority began to roll back the Thatcherite belief that private was all good, while public was all bad. For the first time in four decades, buses in the Liverpool city region have begun to be brought back under public control, starting in St Helens in Merseyside before spreading across the rest of the region.

What does this mean? Instead of private operators deciding where and when buses run, we will set the routes, fares and standards. Our franchised buses will still be operated by third parties. But we will set the rules, decide what kind of network our communities need and hold operators accountable for delivering it. It is the biggest change to public transport in our region for generations. Nobody standing at a bus stop at six in the morning cares about the finer points of franchising legislation. But they do care whether the bus turns up; whether they can get to work on time, get their kids to school or college, or make it to a hospital appointment.

Public control means we can start putting passengers first, with more frequent services, more evening and weekend buses, better connections to hospitals and railway stations and simpler fares. And we have kept single bus fares capped at £2, the price they have been for the past four years.

Change will be immediate. A new express service now connects St Helens directly with Liverpool John Lennon airport. For a family heading on holiday, that may mean avoiding airport parking charges. For somebody looking to work at the airport, it could open up a job. These changes will make a massive difference to people’s lives.

And, for me, that gets to the heart of the argument for public control. A bus route that helps somebody take a job, gets a student to college or allows an older person to remain independent has a value that won’t always show up on an operator’s balance sheet. Markets have their place. But public control allows us to ask not simply, “does this route make money?” but “do our people need it?”

That principle doesn’t stop with buses. We have bought a £500m fleet of new trains and are working towards bringing Merseyrail services into public ownership in 2028. In the coming weeks, the Royal Daffodil – our first new ferry ’cross the Mersey in 60 years, built by a loyal local workforce – will make its maiden voyage.

For decades we were told that privatisation and deregulation would inevitably deliver better services and that the government’s job was to get out of the way. The experience of millions of passengers tells a different story.

When he was mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham and I spent years working together to make that case and show what can be achieved when local leaders have the power to shape the services their communities rely on. Now we have a Labour government bringing our railways back into public ownership and giving local leaders more power over the essentials that ordinary people depend on.

After decades in which the state steadily retreated from people’s lives, we have an opportunity to prove that active government can be a force for good again. That is what started in St Helens last weekend.

I want the Liverpool city region to have the best public transport system in the country. I want people to come here, get on one of our buses, trains or ferries, see what we have built and go home asking the same question I used to ask in London: why can’t we have this at home?

A fire near a train track in the London Paddington area has caused major disruption, with services to Heathrow airport cancelled.

The fire caused an electricity supply failure which has left all lines between Paddington and the airport blocked, National Rail said.

Cancellations and delays to services are expected until 7.15pm, it added.

Photos on social media show large plumes of smoke rising from the Paddington area.

Great Western Railway (GWR) services to Reading have been cancelled, while the Elizabeth line is part-suspended.

No trains are running in either direction between Paddington and Heathrow, the Heathrow Express said.

The airport advised passengers to leave extra time for their journeys, adding that the Piccadilly line, which runs services to the airport, is also experiencing delays.

Transport for London (TfL) said the Elizabeth line is suspended between Paddington and Heathrow terminals four and five, and between Paddington and Reading, while the line to Abbey Wood is experiencing severe delays.

There are severe delays across the entire Piccadilly line due to an earlier trespasser at Hammersmith, according to the TfL website.

GWR said trains may be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading, with disruption expected until 7pm.

The London fire brigade has been contacted for comment.

A large group of people dressed in black and wearing balaclavas have blocked the road at the port of Dover in Kent, forcing closures in both directions.

Kent police said they were aware of the protest, which was described as a “public order incident” by the Port of Dover. Officers were in attendance and engaging with protesters, they said.

Traffic in and out of the port on the A20 has been stopped, according to National Highways, causing delays of up to 30 minutes and four miles of congestion.

Videos and pictures shared online show masked people in black standing on the road in a large group as lorries wait in traffic next to police cars.

Some have estimated that about 300 people have gathered, although this has not been confirmed by police.

The Port of Dover confirmed in a statement that the disruption was affecting “all routes” in and out, as well as around the town, and that it was in touch with the police.

It said: “The Port of Dover can confirm that there is an ongoing public order incident happening around the town of Dover. This situation is impacting our local community and our customers, so of course we are hoping for a swift resolution.”

Nathan Ditchburn, who was on his way to work when he saw the group arrive at about 6.45am, told KentOnline: “I would say there are around 300 men, maybe more. Nobody will speak; they just handed me a piece of paper to look at. They have blocked off every entrance and exit of the Dover port area, and Jubilee Way is blocked as well. It will be causing huge delays for the ferries today.”

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, reposted a video of the blockade, highlighting a livestream of the protest.

The local Parkrun group cancelled its Dover Waterfront run, telling runners the course was unsafe or blocked. A spokesperson told KentOnline: “I am afraid we are going to cancel this morning. We have mass disruption with some protesters.”

Mike Tapp, the Labour MP for Dover and Deal, criticised what he described as “idiots coming to Dover to cause disruption”. In a post on Facebook, he said: “Parkrun cancelled and port access disrupted. I am fed up with idiots coming to Dover to cause disruption. I bet if you asked any one of those ‘protesters’ they wouldn’t know small boat crossings are down by 40% and we are working hard to fix the mess. Go home, enjoy your weekend/get a job.”

A local Reform councillor, Paul King, told residents to avoid the port area. He said: “I’ve been told it’s a stop the boats protest. Speaking to local women, they felt frightened by such a large group of men walking up the street. We don’t condone causing public disturbance by protest. But it’s a very good example of what is happening daily with the boats coming in.”

The shipping company DFDS said: “We are aware of the current traffic disruption affecting access to the port. Rest assured we will accommodate you on to the next departure once you arrive.”

P+O Ferries said its sailings were still going ahead as scheduled, adding that those who missed their departure would be offered the next available crossing.