Between 1983 and 1988, the government disposed of a number of its largest industrial
and commercial undertakings, including British Telecom, British Gas and British
Airways, along with Rolls-Royce and Jaguar. These were followed by the sale of British
Steel and the Rover Group, the National Bus Company and, more significantly, by the
regional water authorities and the electricity industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In the most recent phasemajor sales have included British Coal, British Rail, the flotation
of the National Grid and the privatisation of the nuclear industry.