Traffic & Transport
Monday briefing: Why public patience with privatisation has finally run out | Transport
Good morning. At the height of the privatisation bonanza of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s government was spending vast sums on TV and billboard adverts urging us to “tell Sid” that he could pick up shares in British Gas. It was the era of the Great Flog-off, and “Sid” was promised a stake in a bright, shareholder-led future.
Now, in 2026, the sheen has well and truly come off Sid’s investment. Whether it is the state of our railways, or our rivers in England and Wales, the argument for private ownership of public essentials is looking increasingly threadbare.
But, as Dr Simon Griffiths, reader in politics at Goldsmiths, explains for me in today’s newsletter, nationalisation isn’t a “magic wand” either. We spoke about the fiscal trauma of the Liz Truss era, the “pragmatic” case for public ownership of the railways, and why Keir Starmer is so terrified of spooking the markets even when the public is on his side. First though, this morning’s headlines.
Five big stories
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Middle East | Donald Trump defended himself against criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday as he appeared on the verge of agreeing a deal with Iran to end the war.
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UK news | Parts of the UK are officially in a heatwave as temperatures soared to within reach of May records.
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Ukraine | Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for a third time in Ukraine as part of a massive attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region that killed at least four people and injured about 100.
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UK politics | Andy Burnham has sought advice from Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff, on how to manage a potential transition into Downing Street if he succeeds the prime minister.
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UK news | Police investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are looking into an allegation that he behaved inappropriately towards a woman at Royal Ascot, according to a report.
In depth: ‘The public mood has shifted, the government’s hand remains hesitant’
The 80s Tory promises of a “shareholding democracy” feels like a lifetime ago. Today, we are less concerned with dividends and more concerned with whether our trains turn up on time, or if our local beach is safe to swim at, as shareholders appear to be raking it in. But while the public mood has shifted, the government’s hand remains hesitant.
What did Keir Starmer promise on nationalisation?
During the 2024 general election campaign, Starmer’s Labour pitched a vision of “national renewal” that included significant moves toward public ownership. The pledges were specific: a state-owned Great British Energy, the renationalisation of the railways as private contracts expired, and a “tougher” stance on the water companies. It was a platform designed to look radical to the base but “fiscally responsible” to the City. But, Simon Griffiths points out, “as [Starmer’s] position became more secure he became increasingly cautious.” That was already a step back from his leadership campaign, and nationalisation was slowly replaced by the “pragmatism” of the doorstep.
Optics are another consideration. “Nationalisation implies a left-of-centre government rather than the centrist one Starmer is leading. It also costs an awful lot of money. With the exception of rail – which you can do as the contracts run out, a sort of ‘nationalisation on the cheap’ – nationalising steel or water would be a massive financial commitment when money is very tight.”
What has Labour done in government?
So far, the results are mixed. The railways are the big win for Starmer: as Great Western Railway and others see their contracts lapse, they are being folded back into public hands. Cambridge South station will open shortly, the first station to be badged Great British Railways (GBR), and trains with the new livery have been seen on the network. Derby’s labour market will be the beneficiary of the new GBR headquarters, and Aberdeen is set to benefit from the creation of a Great British Energy HQ there.
Elsewhere, the government has been forced into more “activist” roles. The recent Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill – introduced this month as Starmer promised yet another government reset following the disastrous May elections – gives the government the power to bring British Steel into public ownership to prevent a total collapse at Scunthorpe. It’s not an ideological choice; it’s a “break glass in case of emergency” measure.
How popular is nationalisation?
The short answer: very … in certain spheres. “Nationalisation was popular with Labour members in particular, but it isn’t necessarily popular overall,” Griffiths says. Campaign group We Own It argue that “support for public ownership has increased substantially between 2017 and 2024”, gathering together a range of polling stats from YouGov to make their case – for example 66% of people want buses in public ownership, 64% want care homes in public ownership, 64% want energy in public ownership, 55% want to see more services run in-house by councils and 76% want to nationalise the railways.
“The demographic of the electorate who associates inefficiency with nationalisation is a shrinking one,” says Griffiths. To a voter in 2026, the private sector hasn’t delivered the efficiency it promised; it has delivered high bills, sewage and a struggle to find an Avanti West Coast train that runs.
Why has Labour been so cautious?
This is where it gets complicated. Nationalising a company like Thames Water would be an “easy win” with voters. In a rare moment where a Guardian journalist found themselves agreeing with Jacob Rees-Mogg, I found myself nodding along when he argued for allowing Thames Water to simply go bust, letting administrators take over while shareholders lose their equity.
But the government is spooked, and the culprit is Liz Truss. The memory of the 2022 mini-budget – and the market’s violent reaction to it – is baked into the Labour psyche. “It demonstrated that there were limits to what you could do without the market getting involved and pushing up interest rates,” Griffiths says.
Even if, as I suspect, all money is somewhat fictional, the reaction of the bond markets is terrifyingly real. Labour fears that “seizing” assets or ignoring shareholders would trigger a crisis of market confidence. They are governed by a fear of the markets that, as Griffiths says, exists “perhaps for very good reason.”
Would an alternative prime minister make a difference?
Andy Burnham is all but certain to join the challenge for the Labour leadership, and therefore Number 10, should he win the Makerfield byelection next month. He has suggested that a programme of mass renationalisation would be at the centre of his policy platform.
“We need a different path completely. Put more things back under stronger public control: energy, housing, water, transport,” Burnham said earlier this month. With deindustrialisation, privatisation and deregulation, the policy decisions of the 80s have left services that, he said, “just work for the private shareholders and not for the paying public.”
Whether the supposed “King in the North” trumpeting his achievements in uniting Manchester’s public transport into the Bee Network, can actually persuade the bond markets remains the £40bn question. Burnham’s pitch is a direct challenge to the “ultra-caution” that has defined the last two years of Labour in government. Thames Water has already said Burnham even floating the idea of nationalisation is damaging its prospects for recovery.
For decades, the ghost of the 1970s was used to scare us away from public ownership. But as sewage flows and bills rise, it seems more and more voters are deciding that the only thing scarier than the past is more of the same.
What else we’ve been reading
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Russia-watchers Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker have a deeply reported piece speaking to Kremlin insiders, intelligence officials and business leaders on the wavering faith in the “increasingly isolated” Vladimir Putin. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team
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Hannah Murray was in Skins and Game of Thrones, but the main focus of this interview by Charlotte Edwardes is her recovery after being drawn into a wellness cult. Martin
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This week’s advice column from Annalisa Barbieri is a belter: what do you do if you suspect your colleague is lying about having cancer? Charlie
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Photographer Taryn Segal spent an evening in Arkansas at the somewhat bewildering – to British eyes – event of mass auditions to become one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. Martin
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Sport dorks and public transport dorks alike will love Benton Graham’s report on how Amtrak is preparing for a boom in ridership from the hordes of fans from public transit-adoring nations during this summer’s World Cup. Charlie
Sport
Football | Arsenal celebrated being Premier League champions for the first time since 2004 by recording a comfortable victory at Selhurst Park, where they beat Crystal Palace 2-1.
Tennis | Emma Raducanu lost 6-0, 7-6 (4) against Argentina’s Solana Sierra but Fran Jones won at a slam for the first time, beating Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets.
Formula One | Kimi Antonelli won the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, his fourth consecutive win for Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen completing the podium.
The front pages
“US close to peace deal with Iran as Trump faces fury from own party”, is the Guardian’s splash today. The FT leads with “Trump warns US will not rush into peace deal with Iran as talks drag on”, while the Telegraph’s headline is “Iran to give up uranium for peace, says US”.
The i Paper’s top story is “‘Embarrassing’ texts to expose ministers’ cosy relationships with Mandelson”. The Times says “Money for parents spur young into work”.
The Daily Mail runs with “Soft justice makes police ‘caretakers for criminals’”, and the Express writes “Criminals are taking over our high streets”. Lastly, the Mirror says “Russian spies … for real, Nige?”
Today in Focus
The death penalty returns to Israel
The Guardian’s senior Middle East correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, discusses a pair of laws recently passed by the Israeli parliament to bring back the death penalty – seemingly only for Palestinians.
Cartoon of the day | Tom Gauld
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
The River Wye’s entire catchment has been granted intrinsic rights in a new charter – the first full river‑catchment charter in the UK. Adopted by Herefordshire and Powys councils and expected soon in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, it recognises the Wye’s rights to flow, biodiversity, freedom from pollution, regeneration, and representation. The move aligns with the global rights of nature movement, echoing similar protections in New Zealand, Ecuador and Canada.
The Wye has suffered severe ecological decline, largely blamed on nutrient pollution from intensive poultry farming and sewage. More than 4,500 residents have joined a high court claim against Avara Foods and Dŵr Cymru, who deny responsibility.
Jackie Charlton, the county council’s cabinet member for a greener Powys, said: “This is about working together with partners and communities to restore the river and safeguard it for generations to come.”
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
Traffic & Transport
Number of cloned number plates on UK roads at record high, data shows | Transport
The number of reported “cloned” vehicles involved in offences on UK roads has reached a record high, official data shows.
More than 11,400 drivers contacted the DVLA last year after being issued with fines for offences they said they did not recognise or accept responsibility for – most of which are believed to be down to cloning, where a number plate is copied fraudulently on similar vehicles to avoid enforcement cameras.
The number of complaints about misattribution was 9% higher than in 2024 and almost double the figure recorded in 2018, according to the RAC motoring organisation, which analysed data obtained under freedom of information requests.
The rising figures underscore concerns about the number of illegal number plates in use, allowing criminals to evade detection and dangerous drivers to avoid being caught.
Although drivers should provide number plate suppliers with the V5C vehicle logbook and proof of identity, an investigation last year uncovered more than 130 official suppliers in the UK willing to sell cloned versions, which allow drivers to dodge police and congestion charges.
Cloning vehicles has left many innocent car owners having to struggle to prove they were not responsible when enforcement camera images apparently caught their vehicle committing offences.
A parallel concern is the use of “ghost” plates which are designed to be unreadable by the UK’s 18,000 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, which enforce safety measures such as speed limits or lane closures on smart motorways.
The RAC said the UK needed to overhaul an outdated and poorly regulated number plate system. Its head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “If number plate suppliers were carrying out all the checks they’re supposed to, it would be much harder for dodgy drivers to buy cloned plates in the first place. It’s only when a fine arrives at a vehicle keeper’s home address that they realise someone else is driving around using their vehicle’s number plate illegally.”
He said that more also needed to be done to catch drivers with ghost plates, “whether that’s more police officers being equipped with handheld devices that can detect if plates are unreadable, updating ANPR cameras and introducing higher security standards for number plates and for those who produce them”.
The government last month said there would be a new nationwide crackdown on illegal number plates, with funding from the Department for Transport for a new roads policing team. A new National Roads Policing Coordination Centre would share intelligence as well as trialling new technology such as specialised goggles to detect number plates that have been designed to be unreadable by cameras.
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Drivers using an incorrectly displayed number plate can be fined up to £1,000.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We’re cracking down on illegal number plates with significant investment in a new roads policing team and innovative tech to stamp out the scourge of cloned numberplates.
“Illegal number plates help facilitate crime, and we are supporting the police to work with the DVLA to make it easier to report these crimes and support victims through a new digital tool.”
Traffic & Transport
‘A big responsibility’: Clifton Suspension Bridge master hails £7.6m renovation | Bristol
The job does not give the holder age-old perks such as the right to drive sheep across the great structure, but the title “bridge master” does have a certain ring to it.
“I don’t tend to say I’m the bridge master when I’m at a party,” said Tristan Ralph, the current holder of the title. “But people do seem to know and bring it up. It’s a job less ordinary, isn’t it? It’s a Victorian sounding title and people are really, really interested.”
There is, however, nothing ceremonial about the title. Ralph is in charge of maintaining and running the Clifton Suspension Bridge, a UK feat of engineering, without any public money.
“It does feel a big responsibility,” said Ralph. “When the chairman of the trustees rang to say we’d like you to do it, you suddenly feel the pressure. It’s so famous and people in Bristol, quite rightly, are proud and almost possessive of it. Bristolians think: ‘It’s our bridge.’”
The bridge master – and the not-for-profit charity the Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust – have the task of maintaining the bridge “in perpetuity”. “I’m a temporary custodian,” Ralph said. “When I’m finished, I have to make sure it is handed on in just [as] good a condition or better than I inherited it.”
Ralph, a bridge engineer by profession, was speaking to mark the conclusion of a large refurbishment project that has taken two and a half years and involved hand-painting more than 4,000 original iron chain links and installing an energy-efficient lighting system. It has cost about £7.5m. “It’s been a big job,” he said. “But it’s come pretty much bang on budget, which is rare these days.”
That is important because, to many visitors’ surprise, the bridge does not receive public funding. “The upkeep of the bridge, the running of it, the salary costs and everything are all paid only by our toll money,” said Ralph. “People think that we might get something from local or central government. But, no, it’s just the toll money.”
Motorised vehicles – including motorcycles – pay £1 to cross the bridge. There is no charge for pedestrians, cyclists or horse riders. As well as being a beautiful structure, it is also a vital part of Bristol and North Somerset’s transport system.
Ralph said: “It draws the tourists in. We get visitors from hundreds of countries every year but primarily, it’s still a vital piece of local infrastructure. If the bridge wasn’t here, the difference it would make to Bristol traffic would be incredible. We average over 8,000 vehicles a day still. Maintaining it as a transport link is utterly vital.”
The end of the refurbishment does not mean Ralph can rest on his laurels and spend more time hobnobbing with members of the Bridge Owners Forum.
“In a few years, we’ll need to paint the underside of the bridge. The under-bridge gantry unit itself will be replaced over the coming years. So there’s always something. We need to keep on top of things. It’s like your house or your car. If you just ignore it, don’t do things for a couple of years, they start breaking down.”
As in most walks of life, the climate emergency is a challenge Ralph and the trust are having to face. “We were monitoring the bridge daily in the summer with the very hot weather. And maybe if the bridge was being designed today, there would be a little bit more robustness around wind.”
The prevailing south-west wind is not usually a problem and the bridge rarely has to close but if it blows directly through the Avon Gorge it can be more difficult. “We need to keep an eye at both the magnitude of any wind events but also their frequency,” Ralph said.
The engineer admires the bridge’s designers, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel. “It’s remarkably advanced for its time.”
And there is no sign that its days are numbered, largely because the Victorians did not skimp. Ralph said: “There are three layers of chains. The original Brunel design only had two, but because it went from a timber design to a cast-iron deck, they upped it to three.
“There’s a little bit of comfort in there. Today there might be pressure to say, well, can you keep it to two, but in Victorian times they did like to add a little bit of meat on the bones.
“It doesn’t have a finite life. There’s no end date in our plans. We all just keep it going in the highest standards as we can. It’s in really good condition as long as we keep doing what we need to do, keep our attention on it and don’t let things drift. Forever is a long time but there’s no reason why we have any need to worry at the moment.”
Uber has begun a trial of autonomous vehicles on the streets of Manchester as it looks to bring robotaxis to cities around the UK.
The first self-driving cars are operating, using the technology of its partner firms Pony and Verne, with whom Uber recently launched Europe’s first autonomous taxi service in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.
Uber said it was “excited to take this first step toward making this technology accessible to people across the UK”.
In social media posts, Verne said it had “started our autonomous vehicle testing in Manchester”, while Pony said there were “plans to bring robotaxis to the city” and that testing was under way.
The tests involve the company mapping the streets of the city in north-west England with a safety driver behind the wheel and no passengers.
Limited passenger services started last month in London, but with a safety driver in the front seat of cars supplied by Wayve under Transport for London’s licensing rules for private hire vehicles.
The next steps are unclear. Opposition from Uber drivers, their unions and the capital’s politicians to the rollout of robotaxis is mounting. The GMB and ADCU unions have both said thousands of drivers jobs will be lost and have called for help for those affected.
A critical report from London assembly’s transport committee this week called for the government to devolve authority over autonomous taxi services.
It said there was “considerable uncertainty about many of the claimed benefits of autonomous passenger vehicles”, and fears over the impact on public transport and congestion, as well as safeguarding and accessibility for disabled passengers.
There has been no official application to launch passenger services in Manchester so far, and the vehicles are operating under government licence via the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Department for Transport.
A spokesperson for Transport for Greater Manchester said it wanted the city’s taxis to be the safest in the country.
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“New technologies play an increasingly important role in the growth of our city region,” they said. “But they need to be introduced responsibly, safely and with real thought about what it means for our residents.
“Although no applications have been made to operate driverless taxis in the Greater Manchester, we’re aware of potential interest from companies to do so.
“Safety will always be our top priority, and we will need strong assurances that no vehicles will operate on our roads that pose any risk to residents.”
Uber said it expected to offering robotaxi trips in as many as 15 cities worldwide by the end of 2026, mainly in the US and the Middle East.
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