Nor totally rubbish, even if reported on the Daily Mail. As a senior ATCO working as a tech consultant in the some SESAR projects, in particular the AMAN (arrival manager) tool, in the future (and I mean likely after 2020) ATC will give airlines some power in order to prioritize, in case of delays and under certain conditions, many of their flights. This procedure could be based on aircraft rotation or sequencing, or connecting pax, or any other consideration under airline control.
Unfortunately I cannot give any further details but some documents will be soon available on SESAR website.