Should Scotland look to London and Manchester for inspiration on buses?

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Emotive language like that is usually kept for the independence debate. This time, it's over buses.

In his SNP conference speech, the first minister produced a bit of a surprise with a pledge to bring all of Scotland's bus networks under public control by 2031.

The industry has reacted with fury – accusing him of trying to "confiscate" their business. Bus operators say they haven't been consulted, and that smaller operators could be forced out of business.

Swinney says he wants dialogue with the sector, but has hit back at what he calls "hysterical language".

For the full picture, you have to go back to the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher's government de-regulated and privatised buses across most of the UK.

Private companies were able to decide when and how often to run services, something which passengers' groups say eventually left many communities – particularly in rural areas – with patchy, unreliable services.

If routes became unprofitable, they could be scrapped, leaving the people who relied on them stranded.

Private bus operators counter that they have invested heavily in their services, and McGills – whose joint-owner Sandy Easdale was behind the "African dictators" jibe – can point to high levels of customer satisfaction with their services.

The one part of the UK where services weren't de-regulated was London.

There, local political leaders remained in charge of routes and timetables, contracting these out to private companies under a franchise model.

Every service operates under the iconic red roundel of Transport for London. No other competitor is allowed on the streets of the capital.

It was as if an experiment was run to see which system performed best – and people voted with their feet.

In London, passenger numbers have generally been on a steady upward trajectory. Outside London, it's been the reverse.

There was one other part of the UK that chose a different model, and that was Edinburgh.

In Scotland's capital, the council passed its bus network to an arms-length company, but retained majority ownership.

Today, Lothian Buses is seen as one of Scotland's best-performing public transport networks, and has even returned some of the revenue it generates from bus tickets back to the council, in the form of shareholder dividends.

Franchising or direct ownership – those are the two options for the future of Scotland's bus network. But the debate over public control isn't new.

Councils and local transport partnerships already have the power to create franchise bus models in their area, under legislation passed at Holyrood in 2019.

So far, none have – proposals have been put forward by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport with cross-party political support, but are still at an early stage, and will take several years to be implemented.

Legal concerns have contributed to the reluctance and delay.

When Manchester became the first place outside London to make a serious push to bring its bus network back into public control, it faced legal challenges from private operators like Stagecoach.

Those were eventually overcome, and the Bee Network was created, with its distinctive yellow buses.

In its first three years of operation, Manchester has seen the biggest rise in passenger satisfaction anywhere in England, according to surveys by passenger watchdog Transport Focus.

The mayor of Greater Manchester who pushed the initiative through was one Andy Burnham.

Now he's in power at Westminster and promoting his devolution agenda, the shift towards public control is expected to gather pace across England. From Cornwall to Newcastle, it's already under way.

Meanwhile, in London, where buses were never deregulated, local leaders are going even further.

In the next few years, Transport for London will launch its first ever directly owned and operated service, like in Edinburgh, although initially along a single route.

The long-term aim is to generate revenue that can be reinvested, and push down the cost of contracts with private operators.

In Scotland, by 2031, the question from passengers at bus shelters may well end up being: what's taking so long?