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Civil Aviation Bill

I suspect that we can hope all we like. We must await the Government’s response in due course, but it is important that they should, both in Committee and later, at least take on board the points that my hon. Friend and I have made. I want to concern myself not so much with charging, which must simply be a matter between the airport operators and the airport users, but to ask the House to consider rather more carefully than the Minister of State perhaps invited us to do earlier the imposition of penalties. The Government are permitting the justice system to be privatised. That is strange from a Labour Government, who, having objected to privatisation of the prison system, seem to be embracing with great enthusiasm the privatisation of the justice system. They are permitting private companies—public limited companies—to impose penalties on their customers that should more properly be imposed by a state organisation, namely the court system or something equivalent to it. I find it amusing, if not surprising nowadays I am afraid, that a Labour Government are introducing a private justice system. Had it been introduced by a Conservative Government, those on the Labour Benches would be hopping mad. There we are: we live in strange and interesting times. Assuming that the parliamentary arithmetic pushes that aspect of the Bill through, we are to have it. The Government should, however, be a little careful about its effect. I am wholly unconvinced that a private justice system will deliver the sort of arrangements that will police noise and emissions according to the best intentions of those who seek to bring in new powers. Nottingham East Midlands airport is going to be one of the policemen or judges exercising the private justice system over its customers, and the news section of the NEMA cargo division website states:"““Bill Blanchard, NEMA Cargo Development Manager, said: ‘the results for 2004 are very encouraging. NEMA has strengthened its position as the UK’s No. 1 ““pure cargo”” airport and overtaken Gatwick to become the second largest cargo airport in the UK and the 13th largest in Europe. These figures show that industry is using NEMA more and more to ship their ““just in time”” products by air. NEMA ha always been a regional asset and now has a growing national role to play in this business’.””" That Mr. Blanchard, of course, is the very same Mr. Blanchard who was instrumental in seducing air cargo services based in Brussels to move to NEMA. He was happy to say, on the website that"““when NEMA Cargo Manager Bill Blanchard approached ACS with a proposition he received a warm welcome.””" What sort of justice system is it that will allow the commercial managers of airports to trawl around the air industry marketplace inviting customers in to use their airports so that they may move up the table of high-performing or high-volume cargo airports? What sort of justice system is it that will allow those sort of organisations then to impose penalties on the very people whom they wish to use their airports?