Orders of the Day — Air Corporations Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 November 1965.

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Photo of Mr John Stonehouse Mr John Stonehouse , Wednesbury 12:00, 22 November 1965

We are very much concerned with it. It will not be a decision which will be completely in B.O.A.C.'s hands.

I turn to questions raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar (Mr. Mikardo). I recognise that he speaks from a great deal of background experience when he refers to the affairs of B.O.A.C. and its associated companies. We see no real parallel between the agreement between B.O.A.C. and Fortes and that between B.O.A.C. and Cunard. B.O.A.C.-Cunard is an operation of international air transport. The Bofort arrangement is concerned with catering facilities and is a peripheral aspect of B.O.A.C. operations. We have gone into this question in great detail, and we are satisfied that the Bofort agreement is primarily concerned with staff catering and passenger catering facilities at Heathrow and elsewhere. It is not a substantial operation as is the case with B.O.A.C.-Cunard, and, although we have had full opportunities to consider the question with representatives of the trade unions and B.O.A.C. officials concerned, we see no reason to interfere in B.O.A.C.'s decision to make this agreement.

However, I confirm what I said in answer to the question raised by the hon. Member for Sudbury and Woodbridge. In the event of a large capital investment being made by B.O.A.C. in one of its subsidiaries—this would be equally applicable to the Bofort agreement or any other—there is power in the Bill for the Minister to intervene and to prevent that investment from being made.

My hon. Friend the Member for Poplar raised a number of questions about B.O.A.C.-Cunard. I think that I have already replied to some of them, but I repeat that, although we are unhappy with the terms of this agreement, we do not feel at this stage that we can insist that B.O.A.C. and Cunard break the agreement. We are, however, keeping it very much under review and we hope that there will be a satisfactory outcome to this story of partnership between B.O.A.C. and Cunard. Generally, we are not against partnerships as such. We are in favour of any satisfactory arrangement which can he made between a Corporation and a private organisation. But the terms of this agreement do not seem to us to be particularly satisfactory.