Tory slams co-existence
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• "It is one of the great delusions of
politics that State and private industry can continue to live harmoniously together",
Mr. Michael Heseltine MP, vice-chairman of the Tory Transport Committee, said in London on Tuesday. Mr. Heseltine. who was speaking as guest-of-honour at the annual dinner of the Passenger Vehicle Operators' Association, said he was personally dismayed at the spread of State intervention in transport, which stemmed from doctrinaire views that were not relevant to the needs of the seventies. Commercial judgments were subordinated, and State ownership and political expediency had the effect of slowing the rate of necessary change in industry..
Especially in road haulage, he remarked, there were those who, the faster they gobbled up the private sector, the louder they proclaimed the virtues of living harmoniously together.
Talking of the current Transport (London) Bill's extension of London Transport's powers in the area outside the capital, he commented that the shifting of 90 per cent of the undertaking's capital debt on to the tax payer removed a burden which private industry could not similarly discard. So long as State undertakings could shed large parts of their commitments, there was not a road in the country where the private operator could hope to compete on fair terms.
Mr. Heseltine deplored the fact that industry in general had again been singled out in the Budget; Corporation tax, S.E.T. and fuel tax increases would hit industry hard.
The Budget was also deplored by the PVOA national chairman, Mr. C.1'. Dabell, who said he was absolutely horrified at nearly 2fd on fuel tax with no rebate for other than stage operators, and a massive increase in S.E.T.; the busy tourist industry would be embarrassed by these imposts.
Nevertheless, Mr. Dabell saw a bright future for independent bus and coach operators, so long as co-operation with State and municipal undertakings was achieved. On the Transport (London) Bill he thought it nonsense to suggest that there could be fair competition between a monopoly bus undertaking and operators restricted virtually to private hire. He hoped that there was still time for the more serious difficulties arising from the reduction in driving hours
to be removed by means of exemption regulations which were now under consideration.