Clause 11 - Uniform
Traffic Management Bill
Public Bill Committees, 27 January 2004, 5:30 pm
Mr David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Conservative)
Some things about the market are more acceptable than others. I shall be happy to have a lengthy debate if the hon. Gentleman would like one.
One principle of contracting out and privatisation is that one writes the contracts that one wants. It does not necessarily affect the market if I—the person contracting with somebody else for that person to provide, in that name, the service that I want—say that I want that person to look smart and tidy, not garish. That does not undermine anything to do with the free
market. If the hon. Member for Telford (David Wright) would like a little lesson in free market economics, I shall be in the Strangers Bar later, and I shall be happy to oblige him or any member of the Labour party who needs help in the course of the evening; some of them might.
The Minister should give some thought to saying that the national authority ''must'' specify the uniform, or else we could have a proliferation of uniforms, and confusion among the public.