THATCHERISM’S roots in public transport are being “ripped up,” MP Louise Haigh told delegates today.

The Transport Secretary, one of the most progressive and effective members of the government, said it was “bringing the age of privatised chaos underwritten by public money to an end for good.”

This was “ripping up the very roots of Thatcherism” by returning the railways — or most of them — to public ownership and handing local councils greater control over bus services.