Prescott defiant on air control sell-off

Ministers want more investment in air traffic control

The government has vowed to fight on with plans to part-privatise air traffic control despite being defeated on the issue in the House of Lords.

Peers from all parties voted on Thursday, by 112 to 90, for a Conservative move to delay the partial sell-off of the air traffic control service (NATS) until after the general election.

And the Lords inflicted a further defeat when peers backed, by 78 votes to 77, a Labour backbench amendment to protect the pensions of NATS employees in the event of privatisation.

But a Downing Street spokesman insisted the government remained committed to the policy, saying that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott would continue to state the government's line "very robustly".

The spokesman said privatisation would "lever in extra investment into the system, while at the same time ensuring that safety remains in the public sector".

Former Labour transport minister Gavin Strang welcomed the outcome of the vote, saying: "This is an important and significant defeat for the government."

He urged ministers to reconsider the privatisation plan, which he said was "deeply unpopular" with the public and with Labour voters in particular.

Gwyneth Dunwoody, the Labour chair of the transport select committee, also asked the government to drop their plans saying such a move would prove "wise".

She warned that failing to do so would hold up the transport bill which she said contained "absolutely essential bits of legislation about railways".

She said: "We are running out of time and I don't think any sensible business manager is so wedded to a rather pointless idea that they want to put it ahead of everything else in their programme."

Following the defeats, Conservative transport spokesman Bernard Jenkin said: "Labour were elected on a policy that the air was not for sale.

"Clearly, this vote this evening shows it should never have been put up for sale and Labour must abandon their botched privatisation immediately."

Lord Brett, a former head of the union representing workers in the National Air Traffic Service, had urged ministers to reconsider their plans in the wake of the disasters following rail privatisation.

Controllers' unions fear the part-privatisation plans will jeopardise safety

But the government insisted there was no comparison between ministerial plans to encourage investment in NATS and the privatisation of the railways.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Brett objected to being called a "rebel" but urged ministers to "think again".

"Of course it is true that we need the investment but there are other ways of providing investment without necessarily introducing competing features and conflicts of interest."

He said lessons should be learned from countries like Canada which have brought in extra funding to their air traffic control service while keeping it under public control.

'Safety at risk'

The peer travelled across the Atlantic at his own expense to study the trust system Canada operates.

"The government will not deliberately put safety at risk but it can, as we have seen in other areas, produce machinery changes which in the event, with hindsight, do indeed put safety at risk," Lord Brett said.

Labour MP Phil Woolas, parliamentary aides to transport minister Lord Macdonald, said: "We have had good and bad examples of safety control in both private and public sector and I think the air traffic control situation is not analogous at all with railways."

Blair adamant

Tony Blair ruled out a re-think during exchanges at prime minister's questions on Wednesday.

Mr Blair said a part-privatisation would ensure much needed investment for NATS and see responsibilities for safety remain in the public sector. It would, he said, be "the best of both worlds"

NATS needs around £1 billion of investment to keep up in a market which is expanding by 6-7% a year - the public-private partnership would raise £350 million towards that, according to ministers.