THIS AIN'T FRANCHISING

摘要

The unwanted Bus Services Bill that is meandering through Parliament includes a power available to certain authorities to introduce what is termed 'franchising'. In the real world uninhabited by government, a franchise would be an offer by an enterprise for other people to trade under its name. For example, most McDonald's outlets are a franchise. However, in the post-truth world of politics what franchising means in the Bus Services Bill is nationalisation without compensation, which even the post-war Attlee government did not attempt. So, large and small, at the behest of the local authority, a bus business would be confiscated and offered out to the lowest bidder, which may or may not be the business's current owner.