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Civil Aviation Bill

I am unconvinced of the case as yet, but I have it in mind that it is being presented by Members on my own side, so I am happy to engage in conversation on the point. Both my noble friends Lord Faulkner and Lord Berkeley well appreciate the extent to which the British Transport Police will have some role to play in the policing of airports. We are well aware of the fact that our major airports are served by direct rail connections, some of them right into the heart of the airport. The British Transport Police is involved in that part of the operation. Within my perhaps overly dismissive remarks, I am not trying to suggest that the BTP is anything other than part and parcel of the general security provision. Rather I was seeking to meet the particular challenge posed by my noble friend; that the whole lock, stock and barrel of airport security should be handed over to the BTP. He has some way to go to persuade me on that.