The SNP’s candidate for Glasgow Central, Osama Saeed, has called for the UK government to be ready to force the sale of either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport after BAA's successful appeal to the Competition Appeals Tribunal.
A technicality[1] has meant that BAA successfully challenged the Competition Commission’s March 2009 ruling that it operated a monopoly by owning both Scotland's main airports.
Osama Saeed commented:
“The CC took two years reaching this very important judgement to Glasgow and Scotland's economy and it seems that the whole process may have to start all over again. [2]
“The decision they came to was blindingly obvious and the result of another report will conclude the exact same thing. No one is disputing the fairness of the original ruling, not even BAA.”
It is widely expected that in the event of a sale, BAA will hold onto Edinburgh Airport and sell Glasgow. Saeed added:
“Over the last few of years, BAA’s ownership of both airports has seen Edinburgh take over Glasgow as the busier airport. Knowing that they will eventually have to sell Glasgow off gives BAA another two years to potentially put the minimum level of investment in Glasgow, and lay open the opportunity to let Edinburgh flourish further at Glasgow’s expense."
“This cannot be allowed to happen. The UK government can force the sale and they should be ready to enact legislation for this if there is going to be n end or a significant delay to the CC process. This has not been mooted till now, but this is not surprising given the lack of urgency in London caused by the distance from the issue.
“This case also underlines the need for this power to reside in the Scottish Parliament where Scotland's national interests could be acted on more swiftly. Already, Scotland's airports were in a two year queue for sale behind Gatwick and Standsted from the CC's bungled inquiry. It is all likely to be put back further now and the length of time that this has taken is unacceptable.”
[ENDS]
Notes
1. Prof Peter Mozier, a member of the inquiry was paid a small fee as an adviser to a pension fund run by the Manchester local authority. The same councils were a potential bidder for BAA airports to be sold. The individual declared his interest at the outset and left the process before its conclusions, but this still left grounds for BAA's appeal which the CAT accepted with the "greatest reluctance". There was no bias, just the possibility of it.
2. There will be another CAT hearing which will determine whether the CC can look at this matter again, and if so, how far back in the process they have to go.
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