Project Lauren has been launched by BA because of the accute slot shortage at LHR and the great uncertainty at LHR following the introduction of Open Skies next April.
Whilst I accept the pilots are right to insist that BA honours the Scope agreement between them, any delay in pilot recruitment within PL is much more subject to the jockeying by airlines over their future North Atlantic flights.
One has only to look at the recent feeding frenzy over the GB airways LHR slots to see how determined airlines are to get a slice of the N ATL traffic.
Each one went for about £20M hence BA's desire to set up PL.