Labour demands all-party Westland investigation

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 8

Labour demands all-party Westland investigation

NZPA-Reuter London The British Opposition Labour Party has demanded the formation of an allparty committee to investigate the background to the Westland helicopter affair that has shaken the Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher’s, Government.

The demand comes after Mrs Thatcher, threatened by the possible loss of her second Minister in a week over the crisis surrounding Britain’s only helicopter firm, spoke to defend the role of the Secretary for Industry, Mr Leon Brittan. Mrs Thatcher told the House of Commons he was not guilty of the Opposition charge that he misled Parliament by concealing the existence of a crucial letter relating to the Westland issue.

The ailing west of England firm has received two offers—one United Statesled and the other European—to rescue it from near-bankruptcy. The Minister of Defence, Mr Michael Heseltine, re-

signed his post last week, alleging that Mrs Thatcher and Mr Brittan backed the United States deal, involving the firm of Sikorsky and Fiat of Italy, and had attempted to silence his sponsorship of a European consortium led by British Aerospace.

Mr Brittan said yesterday he had no intention of resigning after being obliged to admit to the House that he had concealed the existence of a letter to Mrs Thatcher from the chairman of BAe, Sir Austin Pearce. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Neil Kinnock, received an assurance from Mrs Thatcher that she would seek Sir Austin’s agreement to publish the letter, which it is believed may contain criticism of Mr Brittan’s role in the Westland debate. Mr Heseltine has accused Mr Brittan of putting pressure on BAe to pull out of the European consortium on the grounds its participation could prejudice United States sales of the European

Airbus, a project in which BAe participates. Mr Kinnock yesterday opened a full debate on Westland in Parliament on a motion calling for the establishment of a House of Commons committee. The motion noted that serious accusations had been made by Mr Heseltine about the Government’s conduct and demanded that a committee should be furn-

ished with all relevant documents and letters, “in order to establish for the nation a truthful record of the events.” The former British helicopter tycoon, Mr Alan Bristow, said yesterday he had raised his stake in Westland to about 14 per cent, making it virtually impossible for a United States-led rescue bid to go ahead. He said he bought an extra 2 per cent of Westland’s shares in response to a mystery buyer who has acquired 15 per cent of the ailing firm in the last two days. Industry sources said Mr Bristow’s stake would be enough to block the Sikor-sky-Fiat bid favoured by the Westland board. The bid is being contested by a European consortium and Mr Bristow said today: “I now believe the supporters of the European consortium will have 30 per cent of the votes at the shareholders meeting on Friday.”