Morris attacks `Noddy' economics

Bill Morris, (left) leader of the Transport and General Workers' Union, yesterday accused John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, of the "economics of Noddyland" in allegedly encouraging two arms of government to sue each other.

The trustees of the Bus Employees' Superannuation Fund - civil servants in the Lord Chancellor's Department - are suing Mr Prescott's Department of Transport for the return of a fund surplus of pounds 168m. Before the National Bus Company was privatised, in 1986, the rules of its pension fund were altered to allow the surplus to be transferred to the Government. The trustees point to legal rulings that the move was unlawful and have embarked on litigation against the present Government to win the money back for pensioners. A spokesman for the department said ministers were still considering the issue. Barrie Clement