Key privatisation decisions

Elsewhere in the magazine, Catherine

Bank nationalisation in recent years
Youds outlines the debate between
One response to the 2007 financial crisis was to nationalise a number
privatisation and nationalisation. Although of banks, including Northern Rock, and part-nationalise others,
privatisation is synonymous with Margaret including the Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
In September 2007, news broke on the BBC that Northern Rock
Thatcher and Conservatism, it has been
needed financial support from the Bank of England and consequently
enacted by all parties in government over the first run on a UK bank in 150 years ensued. Queues of customers
the past 40 years. This timeline shows waited outside Northern Rock branches. Two unsuccessful bids to
take over the bank ended in the government taking it into public
the key privatisation decisions that have ownership in February 2008. Later that year, RBS and the recently
taken place from 1979 to present merged HBOS Lloyds and TSB were part-nationalised with public
ownership at 70% and 43% respectively.
In recent times the banks have been reprivatised. Northern Rock
was split into two parts — branches and other retail operations, and
high-risk mortgages. The branches and other retail operations were
acquired by Virgin Group in 2012 and rebranded as Virgin Money.
The mortgage book of higher-risk assets was later sold to Cerberus
Capital Management in 2016.
In May 2017, the government sold its 43% stake in Lloyds Banking
Group, making a profit of £900m. In June 2018, the government sold
7.7% of its share in RBS at a loss of over £2bn. The government is
now considering selling off a significant proportion of its shares over
the next 5 years.

1979–1981 1982–1986 1987–1991 1992–1996 1997–2001 2002–2008 2008 2008 2009–now 2012 2016 2017
British Jaguar, British Telecom, British Steel, British Final sell-off of British Coal, Private finance Royal Mail Northern Rock RBS and The Tote, Royal Northern Northern Rock Lloyds Banking
Aerospace rest of Aerospace and Petroleum, Rolls-Royce, Powergen, National Power and initiatives (PFI) in the and NHS face and Bradford HBOS, Lloyds Mail, probation Rock branches mortgage Group
and Cable & Cable & Wireless, British Airways, water British Rail. Plans to privatise NHS, schools and privatisation and Bingley TSB merged services, roads, reprivatised book reprivatised
Wireless Britoil and British Gas and electricity the Post Office abandoned London Underground through nationalised and part- parts of the reprivatised
amid fear of a public backlash continued PFI nationalised education sector
and NHS, and
the police

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
EconomicReviewExtras
Go to www.hoddereducation.co.uk/economicreviewextras for a pdf
of this poster to download and print for display in the classroom.

16 Economic Review February 2019 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/economicreview 17