MPs attack £16bn assets 'fire sale'

Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne insisted ministers were not conducting a "fire sale" and that they were committed to getting "the most value for taxpayers" from the planned disposal of £16 billion worth of assets.

But on the day MPs returned to Westminster after the long summer break, he was forced to fend off questions from both the opposition and from angry Labour backbenchers who warned the sale would simply benefit speculators.

Earlier, Gordon Brown confirmed his intention to bring forward the planned sale of around £3 billion worth of assets including the Tote, the Student Loan Book, the Channel Tunnel rail link, the Dartford Crossing and the uranium processing company, Urenco. They are part of a wider sale of £16 billion worth of assets - including £11 billion worth of local authority assets - announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in the Budget.

In the Commons, Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable said holding a "national car boot sale" when land prices were 15% to 20% of their peak was an "absolute guarantee" that the Government would not get value for money.

"The Government has a terrible record in selling Government assets," he said. "This announcement is driven entirely by political concerns."

For the Tories, shadow treasury chief secretary Philip Hammond said that all the proposed sales announced by Mr Brown had been announced before. In 2007 the Treasury had valued the Student Loan Book alone at £6 billion - double what it hoped to get from all the assets it was now planning to sell. "Selling the family silver will not solve the crisis in the public finances," he said.

However some of the most critical comments came from Labour MPs. Katy Clark said: "It is a bit rich that when it is the market that has got us into this situation, it is the market that is going to be able to buy our assets on the cheap."

Fellow Labour MP David Winnick added: "Can we be reasonably satisfied that at least the Palace of Westminster won't be flogged off to some land speculator or property company in the near future?"

Mr Byrne said that the Government was looking to sell-off the £3 billion worth of assets over the next two years - rather than four years as originally planned - in order to pay down debt. However he insisted the sales would only go ahead "where and when the market conditions are right".