London mayor Ken Livingstone has brought in to take over management of the tube in a few months time, is no friend of the trade unions. But he slammed the privatisation scheme on Monday. But it is a dumb proposal and we are trying to get it back into the land of the sane. Talks between Kiley and Prescott broke down at the weekend as New Labour insisted that private consortia are given control of the tube under the PPP scheme. These are made up of the companies that have got their claws on the mainline railway.
New Labour is caught in a vice.
Blair has said he wants a deal done over the tube this week. London Labour MPs fear that an ongoing dispute on the tube could hit them hard in the general election. Tube privatisation is deeply unpopular. But New Labour is committed to privatisation across the public sector. That is why instead of abandoning the tube sell off, Prescott was looking to last ditch talks on Tuesday to get it through.