A Royal Navy Sea King in action

A crucial member of the consortium bidding for the privatised contract to run Britain’s search and rescue helicopters has pulled out of the deal, according to a newspaper.

The move comes amid reports that military police are investigating allegations of improper conduct during the bidding for the £7bn contract, the Financial Times reports.

The newspaper said the Royal Bank of Scotland had quit the Soteria Consortium, in the light of the controversy.

The project has been dogged by controversy since the previous Labour Government approved the deal, which would see the familiar Sea Kings of the Royal Navy and RAF replaced by civilian Sikorsky S92A aircraft flown by civilian pilots.

The helicopters of the RAF, Royal Navy and Coastguard assist with hundreds of mountain rescue incidents each year in Britain, providing airborne backup and casualty evacuation to the volunteer rescue teams.

One of the first acts of the new coalition Government was to suspend the implementation of the privatisation contract, which would have seen the ageing Sea Kings replaced by the newer helicopters by 2014.

But the £7bn scheme was put back on the agenda in December and an announcement was expected from the Department of Transport by the New Year.

However, Prime Minister David Cameron let slip in the Commons that: “I have been lobbied extensively about air-sea rescue, including by people from all walks of life, if I may put it that way,” a remark widely taken to refer to behind the scenes pressure from Prince William, an RAF search and rescue Sea King pilot, who accompanied Mr Cameron on the ill fated Zurich attempt to secure the 2018 football World Cup for England.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told MPs ‘a possible issue’ had emerged with the Soteria bid.

It is not know whether other members of the consortium, which includes French company Thales, Canadian Helicopter Corporation and Sikorsky, will continue with the PFI bid.