Selling off a range of public bodies would be a "get out of jail card" as the Tories desperately try to balance the books, according to tax lawyer Charlie Elphicke, who has advised the party's economic team. John Redwood, chair of the Conservatives' economic competitiveness commission, has published proposals on his blog for the sale of Britain's motorway network while Ed Vaizey, the shadow arts minister, last week suggested selling off Radio 1. The proposals reflect a growing belief behind the scenes that Mr Cameron will have to consider some form of privatisation programme of the type instigated by Margaret Thatcher if he wins power. Beginning soon after she took office in 1979 with the first stage of a sell-off of BP, Lady Thatcher's privatisation programme accelerated in the early 1980s with the successive sales of utility companies. Mr Elphicke, the Tory candidate for Dover, said: "The budget deficit this year and next year is expected to be £180 billion. "If you reduce spending by £60 billion and put taxes up by £40 billion you still have a huge hole, a massive borrowing overhang. "How do you reduce the level of borrowing and repair the public finances? Asset sales are the one thing that is a get out of jail free card." Mr Elphicke said the Tories should consider selling BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, which could bring in an estimated £8 billion to the Exchequer. He said: "It's a neat little compromise. It preserves the integrity of public service broadcasting and leaves the rest of the BBC intact. The public have poured money into this over the years and we could argue that we now need the money back." Mr Elphicke said Royal Mail and Channel 4 could also be sold, and banks returned to the private sector. "Even Labour are looking at selling off things like the Dartford Crossing and British Waterways," he said. "And David Cameron has said he wants a discussion about what the state should and should not do. "We need to say 'What does the government own that it does not need to own?' There is a conversation to be had with the nation where we say 'Look, we have to make hard decisions.'" Both Mr Elphicke and Mr Redwood argue that high street banks taken into public ownership during the credit crisis should be part of an early privatisation package. "If you return the banks to the private sector you get capital receipts of £150 billion. That is the golden hope," Mr Elphicke said. Mr Vaizey was slapped down by party chiefs last month for proposing that the BBC should be forced to sell Radio 1. Although he is the shadow minister responsible for broadcasting, a Tory spokesman said the sale of Radio 1 was not party policy. Mr Vaizey, a long time member of Mr Cameron's inner circle, later said he was only speaking "metaphorically" and was simply giving an illustration of one way in which the dominance of the BBC could be broken up. However, insiders say the idea of asset sales is being discussed by the Treasury team. One senior Conservative MP said: "We are absolutely fixated with balancing the books now, it is the only thing that matters. "And we are stuck with the fact that we have said we are not going to change the NHS budget and that is a fifth of the whole government budget. So we are stuck with that and we have to look elsewhere. "There is no way we are going to make the books balance just with cuts. Radio 1 and Radio 2 are ripe for a sell-off, perhaps even BBC1. "There is a perfectly sensible economic argument for selling off Royal Mail but it is politically toxic. We need to look at these things." Mr Elphicke said asset sales could be delayed until a few years into a Conservative government to ward off public alarm. "It doesn't need to be done immediately. It can be in year three," he said.Conservatives float plans for massive privatisation
A mass sale of public assets by an incoming
Conservative government could include large parts of
the BBC and Royal Mail, senior party figures have said.
Sunday, 6 September 2009
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