British £5bn state-asset sell-off rivals Thatcher era privatisation programme

UK chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne detailed £5bn (€7.1bn) of state-asset sales, adding to a privatisation programme that rivals that of the 1980s and is set to provide fresh revenue for the banking sector.

Seeking to pare debt and create funds for infrastructure spending, Osborne’s treasury said yesterday it will allow the rail system to sell assets and will look to dispose of its 49% stake in the air traffic service and bring private capital into Ordnance Survey.

Coming as the UK government pares its holdings of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Lloyds Banking Group, the plan evokes memories of the wave of state assets sales by then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.