[PEN-L:9408] The latest from Britain

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Complements of Sid Shniad:

>The Daily Telegraph				Monday 7 April 1997
>
>'INSANE NOTION' NOT SUCH A BAD IDEA NOW
>
>	By Robert Shrimsley, Chief Political Correspondent
>
>"THE closest thing to legalised political corruption." This was how Tony Blair
>described the British Telecom, Gas and British Airways privatisations in 1987.
>Now the Labour leader is apparently ready to countenance that very vice.
>
>Those comments are 10 years old, made when Mr Blair was trade and industry
>spokesman. But only three years ago, two weeks before becoming Labour
>leader, he described the Tory devotion to selling off state assets as "this
insane
>notion".
>
>With all the most senior members of his party, he has voted against every
>privatisation in the last 14 years. But things have moved on. Mr Blair has
>already rid the party of the determination to renationalise the privatised
utilities.
>
>In a speech today he will say: "I believe that where there is no overriding
reason
>for preferring public provision of goods and services the presumption
should be
>that economic activity is best left to the private sector."
>
>Last week's manifesto even shelved the plan to take the railways back into
>public ownership - a shift made more remarkable when contrasted with the
>Labour leader's conference speech last October when he said he was committed
>to "restoring a unified system of railways with a publicly owned, publicly
>accountable BR at its core".
>
>But until the weekend, when the party found itself pinned down by the Tories
>on the "£12 billion black hole" in its finances, the idea of actually
embarking on
>its own privatisations seemed a Thatcherite bridge too far. Strictly
speaking, the
>party's leaders have still not actually backed privatisations, they have
simply
>indicated a willingness to review the idea. The Rubicon of proposing their own
>sell-off has still to be crossed.
>
>Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor, did raise the idea of selling the Tote,
>but this was instantly quashed by Robin Cook, the shadow foreign secretary
>and chairman of Labour's national policy forum.
>
>Aside from that brief flutter, there was little evidence of any new-found
>enthusiasm for privatisation. Yesterday Alistair Darling, Treasury spokesman,
>said Labour had "for the last few years" made clear it was pragmatic and would
>accept the private option if it worked best. "We have been saying that ever
>since Tony Blair was elected leader," he added.
>
>However, while Mr Blair has rewritten Clause 4, the traditional commitment to
>nationalisation, the anti-privatisation rhetoric has continued. In
February, Mr
>Blair described Tory plans to sell off London Underground as "a poor deal for
>the taxpayers [which] would offer no strategic control over a vital public
asset".
>
>Last Friday, Mr Brown raised the prospect of privatising the National Air
>Traffic Control Service -- a sell-off already planned by the Tories.
>
>But six months ago at the last Labour conference in Blackpool, Andrew Smith,
>shadow transport secretary, railed against the very thought of such a sale.
"The
>Tories have dreamt up a crazy new scheme to privatise the air. They want to
>flog off the NATCS. Let me warn the Transport Secretary Labour will do
>everything to block this sell-off. Our air is not for sale."
>
>Last week, Mr Brown said he would have to "look" at privatising the NATCS.
>He said yesterday that he would look at all state-owned assets to see whether
>they could be sold. Aides said this could even include Channel 4 or the Tote.
>
>The party's arts manifesto published three weeks ago stated: "It seems
>unimaginable that Government could ever consider privatising the channel and
>jeopardising this resource. Labour will retain Channel 4 as a public service
>broadcaster."
>
>On the Tote, Robin Cook said in February: "There will be no proposal by
>Labour to sell the Tote. There have been no discussions in the shadow cabinet
>about the sale of the Tote."
>
>Mr Cook was similarly abrasive about suggestions of selling off sections of
the
>Royal Mail. With attacks on the seeming contradictions raining in from Tory
>ministers by yesterday afternoon, Labour aides were drawing back from talk of
>sale of Channel 4 or the Tote.
>
>
>The Daily Telegraph				Tuesday 8 April 1997
>
>UNIONS WARN BLAIR OVER SELL-OFFS
>
>	By George Jones, Political Editor
>
>TONY Blair faced a backlash from the unions last night after saying that
>Labour was ready to sell remaining state assets if it won the election.
>
>Union leaders said they did not believe that it would happen. Kenneth Clarke,
>the Chancellor, accused Mr Blair of "saying anything to get elected".
>
>Although the unions have adopted a low profile during the campaign, Mr
>Blair's conversion to privatisation - which Labour has opposed tooth and nail
>since 1979 - proved too much for them. They made known their hostility to
>state sell-offs after the Labour leader went to the City of London to make a
>speech declaring that there was "no overriding reason" for preferring the
public
>provision of services.
>
>Mr Blair said Labour was not in the business of "pressing the rewind
button" to
>reverse the economic reforms of the 1980s - and "what counts is what works".
>
>Gordon Brown, the shadow chancellor, confirmed that a Labour government
>was ready to consider privatising the National Air Traffic Service to meet
>financial targets set by the Government. At last autumn's Labour conference,
>Andrew Smith, transport spokesman, said Labour would do everything it could
>to block privatisation of the service, declaring: "Our air is not for sale".
>Yesterday Mr Brown said Labour would look at the sale "on its merits".
>
>But the extent of Labour's conversion to privatisation was questioned by John
>Monks, general secretary of the TUC, who is regarded as a leading supporter of
>Mr Blair's modernisation. He told BBC Radio 4's World at One that while Mr
>Blair was signalling that Labour was not opposed to privatisation, he did not
>expect Labour to implement such a policy in power.
>
>"I wouldn't expect a Labour government to go down the direction that the
>Conservatives have been down - which is to clear out every potentially
lucrative
>bit of the public sector," he said.
>
>Barry Reamsbottom, general secretary of the Civil and Public Servants'
>Association, made clear his opposition to the privatisation of the National
Air
>Traffic Service in which his members work. He said he would be "extremely
>surprised" if it happened under Labour - and he would warn against the danger
>that safety could be compromised. No other country in Europe had privatised
>its air traffic control services, added Mr Reamsbottom.
>
>Margaret Beckett, Labour's trade and industry spokesman, also showed "old"
>Labour's continuing hostility to privatisation. She described as a "fantasy
>world" a suggested list of Government agencies that would be prime
>candidates, including air traffic control, the Met Office, Companies House,
the
>Public Record Office and the Radio Communications Office.
>
>Mrs Beckett claimed that Mr Blair's speech was not as "exciting" as was being
>made out and emphasised that a case would have to be made out that any
>further privatisations were in the public interest. She also hinted that the
>Ministry of Defence could be forced to sell off its land to help balance the
>books. Labour is committed to a defence review, and Mrs Beckett indicated
>that the MoD could be a prime target for savings because "the whole climate of
>defence has changed".
>
>The prospect of Labour carrying out further privatisations was not
mentioned in
>the party's manifesto which was published last Thursday, although it confirmed
>that Mr Blair had abandoned the commitment to take the railways back into
>public ownership.
>
>It emerged as a policy option after the Tories claimed that there was a "black
>hole" in Labour's finances - because the present Government planned to raise
>£1.5 billion from further privatisations next year, including the sale of the
>Natiional Air Traffic Service, Parcelforce and several government agencies.
>
>Mr Clarke called Labour a "collection of unprincipled scoundrels making up
>policy as they go along. These people have spent their entire parliamentary
lives
>fighting privatisation in principle. Overnight, we are asked to believe the
>Labour movement is now in favour."
>
>The Tories last night sought to open a new front, claiming that socialist
leaders
>in the EU were already preparing for a Labour victory with plans to strengthen
>the Social Chapter. If Labour wins, Mr Blair is to be invited to a special
summit
>in Maastricht to discuss his approach to efforts to draw up a new Treaty on
>further European integration at Amsterdam in June.
>
>David Davis, Foreign Office Minister, said: "Europe is preparing a tailor-made
>sell-out summit for "new" Labour. It comes as no surprise that European
>socialist leaders would rejoice at the prospect of a Labour victory."
>
>Michael Heseltine, the deputy Prime Minister, claimed the Europeans saw Mr
>Blair as the "best guarantee to protect jobs on the continent and destroy
jobs in
>Britain".
>
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