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| You are hovering over: Home > News | 21st November |
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Probe clears Byers of lying; what he said was "untrue"2 Feb 2006 by Si Bowen
The Commons standards committee today cleared ex-Transport Secretary Stephen Byers of lying, declaring what he said was just 'untrue'.The self-regulatory committee, which ensures MPs behave themselves and "follow the most basic of standards you'd expect from schoolchildren, really", concluded Byers did not lie, but called for him to apologise for deliberately giving "inaccurate evidence" regarding Government plans to take Railtrack out of the private sector. When asked if he'd considered re-nationalising Railtrack whilst it was still a going concern Byers originally told the Commons "No". The committee now knows what he should have said was, "Yes. I've ordered an options paper, set-up a joint working party and discussed the matter in detail with the Prime Minister." However, the standards committee understood how this simple mistake could have occurred, claiming Byers had "no obvious motive" for deliberately misleading anyone. If the Government had re-nationalised Railtrack when they first looked at it, payments to shareholders and pension funds would have cost £400billion. By not telling anyone about their plans, cutting government subsidies and then watching its inevitable slide into administration, the total cost to the Treasury ended up at around £2.60. "Sheer coincidence," claimed one government spokesman. The ministerial code says giving truthful information to Parliament is of "paramount importance" although this is thought to be flexible, depending on who appoints the committee and what they'd like the findings to be.
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