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LONDON - British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government staved off a parliamentary revolt by some members of his ruling Labour Party today over plans to partly privatise the supervision of criminals.
Blair's government had been at risk of an embarrassing defeat over the Offender Management Bill that will allow private firms and voluntary groups to help run probation services.
At present, Britain has a state-run probation service whose members oversee some prisoners for a period after their release or offenders sentenced to community work.
A parliamentary defeat for Blair, expected to step down in July after a decade in power, would have been taken as a sign of his waning authority.
Government concessions and assurances were enough to bring some Labour dissenters back into the fold.
But the government's majority of more than 60 in the lower house of parliament was slashed to just 25 as 24 Labour rebels joined opposition parties in voting "no".
Some Labour members objected to attempts to privatise public services while others thought the bill unnecessary or heavy-handed.
Labour legislator John McDonnell, a left-wing candidate to succeed Blair as party leader, said by "forcing through the privatisation of probation" the Labour Party had gone further than former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in privatising Britain's public services.
Interior minister John Reid assured parliament key probation service tasks, such as report-writing and court proceedings, would remain in the public sector for three years. "We will not rush this process," he said.
Opposition Conservative David Davis said his party welcomed private sector involvement and greater competition in public services, but said the government passed too much legislation on law and order which failed to solve problems in that area.
Blair's government has suffered only a handful of parliamentary defeats on major policy issues since coming to power in 1997. Parliament rejected a proposal to let police hold terrorist suspects for up to 90 days without charge in November 2005 and two months later the government was defeated over a bill banning people from stirring up religious hatred.
- REUTERS
