Fifteen years since the sale of MTL to Arriva

[Metroline1511]

RE: Fifteen years since the sale of MTL to Arriva
I've just had a thought of how Halton Transport's destiny could have been entirely different. Unlike the creation of Merseyside, the creation of the new Liverpool City Region will include Halton Borough. So, let's suppose that Merseyside had included Halton Borough in 1974. Halton Transport would have been absorbed into Merseyside PTE then MerseyBus. So, when MTL was eventually acquired by Arriva, might they have had to divest the Halton base as well as Gillmoss? We shall never know!