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This article looks at the fundamental changes that have occurred in recent years in the area of public services in the United Kingdom, with a focus on those provided by local government. The various forms of privatisation and commercialisation that have been applied are described. In the second part the in many cases catastrophic impacts on users and workers, for democratic accountability and service quality are detailed. The article closes with a discussion of responses and alternatives.

Increasingly governments are looking to private sector actors to invest in infrastructure projects. An emergent mechanism for such investment is the market in PPP equity. This is an aspect of PPPs that has to date had little empirical attention. This paper reports on the size and scope of the market in PPP equity sales within the UK. In the process, the nature of PPP projects and the existing rationales for the policy are critiqued. The paper concludes by laying out a number of potential research agendas focused on PPP equity sales including a call for reassessing theoretical perspectives.