Branson attacks Labour 'mistakes'

Sir Richard: government should have stood by election pledges

The UK's best known entrepreneur has called on ministers to get radical in their dealings with business, following his unsuccessful bid to run the National Lottery.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire, said the government's failure to turn the lottery into a not-for-profits enterprise reveals a broader timidity by the Labour administration.

Ministers' failure to deliver on lottery reform promises the party made before it was elected to power in 1997 was evidence of "some major mistakes", Sir Richard said on Sunday.

"Having categorically said that they would introduce a lottery where all the profits went to good causes, they [the government] should have followed through," Sir Richard told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost.

And when asked whether the current government had been good for business, Sir Richard said: "There are occasions where I feel that they ought to be taking bolder risks."

Pledge broken

While not directly a business matter, lottery reform was one area where the government "should have been bolder", he added.

The government should have made sure that they delivered what they promised in the election manifesto

Sir Richard Branson

"They should have made sure that they delivered what they promised in the election manifesto."

The People's Lottery consortium, headed by Sir Richard, failed last month in its bid to run the lottery from October as a not-for-profit enterprise.

Following a court battle, state regulators awarded the contract to Camelot, the lottery's current operator, which does not give all profits to good causes.

Sir Richard said he was sure that, in retrospect, the government would have liked the decision process to have proceeded more smoothly.

"It did really turn into a terrible mess," he said.

'Big picture vision'

The government could prove its radicalism by approving plans by Virgin's train subsidiary, backed by rival operator Stagecoach, involving a £7bn refit of the East Coast London to Glasgow route, he said.

Virgin's new trains: "Incredibly beautiful"

"If they do not let the vision we have got for the East Coast main line to take place... I think it would be very sad and I think it would be a great mistake," Sir Richard said.

"If you turn the clock forward 10 years, you need the big picture vision, and that is what I think we can deliver."

Reports on Saturday said GNER, which proposes to upgrade the East Coast main line for 140mph tilting trains, is favourite to be rewarded the franchise for the route.

Service improvement

The proposal by Virgin and Stagecoach would lay 120 miles of new track, bring in 220mph trains and allow extra destinations, including Sunderland, to be served by direct trains from London.

"I think we have come up with a radical approach, and [the] enormous investment, that is needed for the East Coast, because capacity is almost at an end on the East Coast," Sir Richard said.

Passengers on the West Coast and Cross Country routes, which Virgin already operates, will see significant improvement in services from May, when "incredibly beautiful" new trains begin to arrive, he said.

"For the next two years, people will start seeing an enormous improvement," he added.