Do people think that the privatisation and deregulation of industry started by the Thatcher Government in the 1980s has been beneficial to customers of those industries?

Personally I think that on the whole it has been as it has led to better service and in some cases lower prices in 'real' terms.

This is really a thread about benefits to customers rather than employees but no doubt people will express opinions on that too.

yes, I do. Phone, leccy, gas, water. Maybe rail is the exception, but on the whole, I do.

i think it has meant people have obviouisly got more choice on who they buy from which in turn helps price.

However it seems that now it is difficult to choose.There are so many companie all variying in size,quality,price,service , that you cn never be too sure what your getting.With privatisation it was all the same , with a certain level of standards etc and now (could be wrong ) but it seems that there would now be lharder to have effective consumer regulations for all the companies which now exist.

Yes it has on the whole. The telephone situation is the best example, with much more choice and competition, resulting in lower prices. Rail is the worst example, and I think this is probably to do with the logistics involved in having competing train services. Each company can't really have its own track, so track and train have to be separated which has caused problems.

On the whole it has been a good thing, but there are still patches that need sorting out. I think that's more to do with restrictions than the ability of the market to sort it.

Please, please, please will the government STOP subsidising trains - remove the subsidy and force the industry to invest and improve.