An arm's-length alternative to industrial privatisation

How might Britain make publicly controlled industries more efficient in the 1980s if privatisation were rejected?

Arm's-length limited companies could operate with the Bank of England as majority shareholder, grouped under a national pension investment trust that reinvests and receives their profits.

Under the question's condition that privatisation is excluded, publicly controlled industries could become limited companies held at arm's length from direct government management. The Bank of England would be the majority shareholder. A national pension investment trust would invest in the companies and use their profits to support pensions. The proposal is qualified by a general reluctance to nationalise industries unless necessary, while accepting that some activities should be nationalised. A later clarification compares the arrangement with Norway's sovereign wealth or national pension fund, with government ownership exercised indirectly through the Bank of England.