Gwyn Prosser

Working with the people of Dover & Deal

 

Port Privatisation

Dover & Deal MP, Gwyn Prosser, who is Chairman of the Parliamentary All Party Ports and Maritime Group has told the Transport Minister to reject DHB’s privatisation plans.

 

 

Following the handing in of petitions to the Minister, opposing privatisation, Gwyn has met again with the Minister for Ports, Paul Clark and his Officials to underline issues raised by the MP in his formal response to Dover Harbour Board’s plans to sell the port.

 

Speaking after the meeting Gwyn said:

 

“My formal submission to the consultation on DHB’s ambitions to sell the Port of Dover raises objections based on the  well rehearsed reasons I’ve listed during past  threats to sell off our port:  such as the danger of one of our  most important strategic ports falling into the wrong hands, the threat to local jobs, the risks of a private owner stripping out all the assets and profiteering on a resale, the uncertainty of future port development - and many others.  But the scathing attack that the big ferry companies – the port’s main sources of revenue – have unleashed against Chief Executive, Bob Goldfield and the Board is unprecedented in the industry and in my view it totally undermines DHB’s submission. It demonstrates a total lack of trust by the operators  in the Port of Dover’s management team and I believe it has rendered the Board’s submission untenable.

 

“I have therefore asked the Minister to consider the matters raised in my consultation response and reject DHB’s submission out of hand.”

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MINISTER RECEIVES PETITION OPPOSING DOVER HARBOUR BOARD’S  PRIVATISATION PLANS AND MP SEEKS MORE MEETINGS WITH MINISTERS

 

29th March 2010

 

A petition organised by the Rev Dick Rogers and the Rev Michael Hinton opposing privatisation of the  Port of Dover has been presented to the Minister, Paul Clark at the Department of Transport by our local MP, Gwyn Prosser.

 

L-R, GWYN, PAUL CLARK AND DICK ROGERS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT

Gwyn Prosser said:

“Dick Rogers  is the founder of the Common Good Party and he  mostly promotes  international aid  issues but  I’m grateful to him for supporting Labour’s campaign opposing port privatisation  and collecting nearly 2,000 signatures of local people voicing objection to the sale of the port.

“We presented the petition to the Minister and along with other petitions and letters of objection they will form part of the responses to the consultation process”

“In view of  growing opposition to The Port of Dover’s privatisation plans  from the unions and  local residents, and taking account of the unprecedented attack of the ferry  companies on Dover Harbour Board’s behaviour I raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Question time last week and I am now following this up with a further meeting with Ministers at the Department of Transport”

 

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 TORY PORKIE PIES EXPOSED & PRIVATISATION PLANS DEAD IN THE WATER

17th March 2010

Dover & Deal MP Gwyn Prosser raised the vexed issue of port privatisation and the ferry companies’ attack on Dover Harbour Board at Prime Minister’s Questions today.

(Uncorrected transcript of PMQ 17/03/10)

Gwyn Prosser :

Thank you Mr Speaker, Norfolk Line, Seafrance and P&O Ferries have all attacked Dover Harbour Board’s proposals to sell the Port  of Dover,  accusing  them of an abuse of power and threatening legal action through the courts. The people of Dover, the seafarers and the port workers all oppose privatisation.

Does my Rt Hon Friend agree with me that to sell the Port of Dover would be the wrong thing to do – I don’t really expect him to say yes to that - but does he agree that no Government could allow the sale of the port without  the proposals enjoying the trust and support of the main stakeholders.

Prime Minister :

I always see the Hon Gentleman as the most effective campaigner on behalf of the people of Dover and I can repeat what I said recently – there will be no forced privatisation under Labour and we are not pressurising the port to privatise but we are looking at new options for investment in the necessary expansion of the port and the regeneration of Dover. Any proposals, however, would need to take account of the views of the local community and the stakeholders.

Speaking outside the chamber, Gwyn said:

“Today the Prime Minister has scotched the silly stories being pedalled by the prospective Tory candidate who has been spending large amounts of money on glossy leaflets trying to con my constituents into believing Gordon Brown is pressing Dover Harbour Board to privatise. That’s not the story I’ve been getting from the Treasury, the Department of Transport or even from the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Port of Dover but now we have it directly from the Prime Minister in the chamber  –  no pressure and no forced privatisation under Labour.

But the most important development is the ferry companies’ scathing attack on Dover Harbour Board and their allegations of abuse of power and misapplication of revenues. With P&O, Norfolk Line and Seafrance all lining up to challenge the Dover Harbour Board in the courts, there’s no way the Board’s current submission can make any progress, it’s dead in the water – and a good thing too.”

Read more on the story here.

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DOVER HARBOUR BOARD’s PRIVATISATION PLANS THROWN INTO CHAOS says MP

 11th March 2010

Dover’s MP, Gwyn Prosser, says that Dover Harbour Board’s plans to sell off the Port of Dover have been thrown into chaos and confusion following threats by the major ferry operators to take legal action against the Board because of alleged misapplication of the so called ‘Terminal 2 Revenue Levy’

Gwyn Prosser said:

“Today’s dramatic announcement comes as no surprise to me because P&O and the other Dover Port users have been privately voicing their opposition and anger at the way the Board is making this voluntary bid to be privatised without talking to the major stakeholders who use their services and without ensuring that a new owner would guarantee developing the port and building the much needed new Terminal at Western Docks”

“I intend raising this new development with the Leader of the House in the Chamber this morning and asking her to call an emergency debate so as to expose the chaos and confusion being perpetrated by Dover Harbour Board in their unseemly haste to dispose of the port”

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The Prime Minister has rebutted the wildly false allegations of the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Dover that the Government is pressing the Port into privatisation. In a rowdy exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown told Gwyn that there would be no forced privatisation under Labour and the Government will look for new ways of attracting investment.

 PMQ EXCHANGE 10^th February 2010

Gwyn Prosser: The Trust Port of Dover is the busiest ferry port in the world. I’ve sailed out of it for 12 years and represented it for the last 13 years. What can the Prime Minister say today to dispel the fabrications and fables being spun by Dover’s carpet-bagging Conservative candidate that the Government is hell-bent on selling Dover to the highest bidder and the highest bid might come from the French?

Prime Minister: It is the Honourable Gentleman, the Member for Dover, who has been a great champion for Dover and its people and I know he wants the best for the people of Dover including a flourishing port; and I share that aspiration. There will be no forced privatisation of Dover under Labour and we will look for new ways of getting in new investment into the port and the community.

Speaking afterwards Gwyn said:

“Most of my constituents have already dismissed the rubbish that my Tory opponent has been peddling. They don’t want a wealthy tax lawyer living in opulent Belgravia lecturing them on the future of their port. So firstly, I wanted to scotch his fabricated fables about Government pressing to privatise once and for all and the Prime Minister’s answer has done just that.

“And secondly, I’ve always argued that Dover Harbour Board could attract new investment without selling to the highest bidder and enriching the Directors. Gordon Brown has now confirmed this to be the case and he told Parliament that he’s looking at new ways of getting investment into Dover”

“When Dover Harbour Board first volunteered to privatise the port I reminded them that they didn’t have the support of the community and I predicted that their application would not be allowed under Labour – I am now more confident than ever that my prediction will prove correct”

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On the day that the Port of Dover applied to privatise itself Gwyn Prosser says he’s confident that no privatisation will take place under this Labour Government.

And in response to Tory claims that “Gordon Brown is selling off our port as quick as he can”, Gwyn says:

“Mr Elphicke is talking nonsense again because all that’s happened this week is that the Dover Harbour Board have applied to Ministers to restructure their port business and he should know that there’s a big difference between applying for a change of status and having such an application granted. In the same way as there’s a difference between applying for a Parliamentary seat and winning one, as Charlie knows from experience.

He should also know that prior to the port making their application, the Government issued new guidance to all trust ports which has raised the threshold and effectively put higher barriers in the paths of those seeking to privatise themselves. The effect of the new criteria makes it virtually impossible for any port to get anywhere near privatising themselves in the current year or of completing a change of status in the following year – even if the government of the day was minded to grant them permission. That hardly sounds as if this Labour Government is ‘hell-bent’ on privatisation and I’m confident that no privatisation will take place under our jurisdiction.

On the other hand, everyone knows that in the event of a Conservative Government taking office they would relish the prospect of selling the port because that’s what Tories do. And for the avoidance of doubt, at the last election their shadow transport minister travelled all the way to Dover and promised to privatise the port”

 

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