The PPP fiasco
In 2003, the Labour government imposed its “Public-Private Partnership” policy on London Underground, in the face of huge public opposition, trade union resistance, and mountains of rational criticism of the policy. After four years of derailments, cock-ups, late starts to the train service as engineering works overran, the PPP began to fall apart, as Metronet — one of the private Infrastructure companies (Infracos) — went into administration. The other, Tube Lines, would follow it back into public ownership three years later, spelling the end of the PPP. This extract from Janine Booth’s book...