The government’s case for privatisation centred round the claim that the sale of stateowned
businesses would improve their efficiency and general performance, and would
give rise to increased competition that would broaden consumer choice. Under state
control, it was argued that businesses had no incentive to strive for efficiency or torespond to consumer preferences, since many of them lacked any direct competition and
all of them could turn to government for financial support if revenue was insufficient to
meet operating costs