What happens when councils take control of buses?

Until the 1980s most bus services were delivered through publicly owned companies, often run by councils, but in 1986 services outside London were deregulated and privatised, leading to the mass sale of council bus companies.

In London a franchising system was introduced, with Transport for London deciding routes, timetables and fares and operators bidding to run services for a fixed fee.

This has contributed to the capital seeing an increase in bus use, with services less hit by cuts, in contrast to other parts of the country.

In 2017 metropolitan mayors in England were given powers to introduce bus franchising but at the same time councils were banned from setting up their own bus companies from scratch.

If it wins power, Labour says it would give all areas the same opportunity to introduce franchising as metro mayors, as well as allowing councils and regional mayors to set up their own bus companies.

Mr Williams is a supporter of the council-owned model but has doubts over how easy it would be to replicate this more widely.

“You have to be able to afford to buy a depot, buy the vehicles, employ the people,” he says. “Setting that up from scratch is no quick job.”

In Reading, he points out, the council has owned the local bus company for more than 100 years.

Labour claims its plans would require no additional central government funding.

But Mr Williams is sceptical over whether councils, which are facing huge financial challenges, have the money to set up their own bus companies at the moment.

To improve services, he says, also requires investment.

In Reading, he says bus services get very little subsidy from the council as it benefits from its location as a busy commuter town.

“If we tried to replicate this in the middle of the countryside, we clearly wouldn’t be able to sustain the same kind of network,” he adds.