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To: Peter Kyle
Stop the Cycle – Protect Passengers, Workers and Taxpayers.
We call for urgent reform to stop companies and private-equity owners from profiting when the public bears the cost of corporate collapse.
The case of Greybull Capital — the investment firm behind the failures of Monarch Airlines, British Steel, Comet and My Local — exposed major gaps in UK law.
- Monarch’s collapse in 2017 cost taxpayers £40 million in repatriation flights.
- Comet’s insolvency left 6,600 workers redundant and £49 million in public redundancy and pension costs.
- British Steel’s failure in 2019 required £300 million in government support before being sold to a foreign buyer.
Yet the same firm can legally donate to political parties while its controlled companies file opaque ownership statements such as “no person with significant control” — a declaration that may breach the Companies Act 2006.
We urge the Government to:
- Reform the ATOL scheme ensuring pre-paid fares and holidays are protected, not used as working capital.
- Tighten the People-with-Significant-Control regime – making false declarations automatically prosecutable.
- Extend claw-back powers so that taxpayers can recover public costs from controlling investors after insolvency.
- Reform political-donation laws to include beneficial-ownership checks for company donors.
Enough is enough. When private investors take the upside, the public should not take the downside.
Why is this important?
When private investors take over struggling companies, they often promise rescue — but when those companies fail, it’s ordinary people who pay.
Greybull Capital owned Monarch Airlines, British Steel and Comet. Each collapsed, costing thousands of jobs and tens of millions in taxpayer money. Monarch’s fall alone forced the Government to spend £40 million flying stranded passengers home.
It’s wrong that the same investors can then make a profit from failures and donate to political parties while their companies declare “no one in control”.
The system rewards secrecy and punishes honesty. Passengers, workers and taxpayers deserve stronger protections, not another bailout for corporate speculators.
