Lords back Govt
Page 12
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ATTEMPTS to block the privet sation of National Express hay been rejected by the House c Lords despite claims that th move has "no commercia reason at all".
The move was made b Labour peers in the Lords la: week. Opposition spokesma
Lord Underhill said the succes of National Express helpe,
maintain other bus services the might otherwise have to be cui tailed.
It was a success because i was an integrated part of th,
National Bus Company. Natione Express now has only five corn petitors, partly because the could not operate an integrated system.
Junior Minister Lord Bellwid said National Express only con
tributed £318,000 to the profit: of the National Bus Company cod a fully allocated cost basis.
The best course was to alloy National Express to build on it continued success outside thd public sector, while the Nationa Bus Company retained a signifi cant stake. "Why should th( taxpayer provide investment fo this market orientated exercise when private investers coulc shoulder part of the burden?"
But Lord Bellwin refused tc define what he meant by a signi ficant stake. All he would say was that it would be a minority shareholding — and probably above 20 per cent. The Govern. ment was determined that National Express would be controlled by the private sector.
Another Labour spokesman, Lord Mishcon, pointed out that il the National Bus Company re tains less than 25 per cent of the shares, it was possible National Express could be wound up against the Government's wishes.