§ 6. Mr. Bellengerasked the Secretary of State for Air whether, before awarding an air-trooping contract to West Germany for British Army and Royal Air Force personnel to Silver City Airways, he invited British European Airways to tender.
§ Mr. W. J. TaylorNo, Sir.
§ Mr. BellengerIs it not unfair, considering the support which the British taxpayer gives to B.E.A., that it should not be allowed to tender in fair competition with a private undertaking, against which we have heard no complaint?
§ Mr. TaylorGovernment policy in this matter has been explained to the House on many occasions. That policy, broadly, is that apart from a small number of ad hoc movements which have been undertaken, and apart from carriage of individual passengers on scheduled civil airlines, the independent civil operators carry out the air movement tasks and the national Corporations are asked to concentrate on the task of operating scheduled services in the face of tight international competition.
§ Mr. PagetIs not the party opposite in favour of competition? Why does competition have to be excluded when the taxpayer has an interest in one of the competing bodies? This is very odd, is it not?
§ Mr. TaylorNot at all; the air Corporations have a very important task, and an expanding task. I think that they have their work cut out to keep up to the progress required in that direction.