Carillion: A prime example of the failure of PFI in public services

The collapse of major construction firm Carillion, a key player in the disastrous policy of Private Finance Initiative (PFI), has led to a multi-million pound taxpayer bailout to save thousands of jobs at risk and ensure on-going projects (like the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital, not planned for completion until next year) are completed.

The failure of Carillion is not the only example of the failure of PFI over the 25 years it has been in existence (although it proliferated heavily under New Labour, please remember that it was the Conservatives under John Major who devised the idea), where private, profit-oriented companies are contracted to take on public projects with taxpayers' money i.e. your money, not theirs. PFI allows private companies to force the innocent public to take the blame for the failures of corporate bosses who take an interest in funding public construction projects (and other public projects for that matter).

Carillion, which became involved in as many as 25 multimillion pound UK projects as well as major contracts in Canada, Ireland, Malta and Dubai, grew so large that its liquidation has led to major building contractors in the UK suffering losses of upwards of £60,000,000 each.

Here are many other examples of PFI failures which show the reason why PFI must never be continued or reintroduced and why public projects funded by taxpayers' money should only be built by public agencies:

Cumberland Infirmary, the first trust to engage in a Private Finance Initiative scheme: https://www.doctorsforthenhs.org.uk/pfi-fire-safety-failure-the-first-of-many/

Metronet, paid to carry out essential upgrades on the London Underground, as notoriously highlighted by the National Audit Office: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/the-department-for-transport-the-failure-of-metronet/

Construction of new schools in Yorkshire (and elsewhere in the UK for that matter): https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/school-pfi-contracts-a-disaster-1-2391179

PFI also helped fund some of the most wasteful and harmful projects of recent British history, including HS2. New regulations are needed to make sure none of this happens again and to make sure we do not continue to suffer from the failures of reckless oversized private contractors.









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