THE collapse of Carillion highlights the dangers of outsourcing public-sector work to private companies. There will be many public-sector organisations concerned with contracts they have signed with Carillion (and other similar companies) for a range of services from construction contracts to school meals.
These companies exist for one reason – profit. They have no interest in creating better public services or fulfilling a social need, their only interest is how they can make money for their shareholders – and if they can offset certain liabilities such as staff pensions then the happier they will be.
It is indeed symbolic of everything that is wrong with the UK economy that the Carillion CEO is also an adviser to Theresa May on corporate responsibility. I wonder if he will dig into his own pockets to bail out the Carillion pensioners or those relying on the services provided by his company?
Of course this didn’t just happen overnight, although the current Tory government did seem to hand over some lucrative contracts to Carillion even when the company was issuing profits warnings.
Carillion managed to get a foothold in Scottish public services thanks to Labour’s disastrous PFI scheme – a scheme which has left the Scottish public sector facing more than £30 billion of debt. Maybe it’s time some of our public services tried the same tactic on these PFI companies and simply cancelled all the debts?
Councillor Kenny MacLaren
Paisley
VINCE Cable couldn’t be more correct in advising that Westminster should not bail out financially stricken Carillion, but instead let the banks take the knock. Yet another flagship of Westminster Tory capitalist ideology is foundering in familiar financial seas, and manning the lifeboat to be sent to its rescue could be the UK taxpayers, not the merchant bankers of the City of London.
Their scene is the luxury yachting marinas of Monaco etc. Maybe a rough sea trip up to Iceland might open the eyes of the upper echelons in banking, where in the financial crash several years ago (2008), 26 assorted financiers, including bankers, were jailed for a total of 74 years.
Ian Johnstone
Peterhead
WHO is going to run Britain now that Carillion (the company that has been in charge of the UK for the last few decades) has finished asset-stripping the UK via multiple colossal government contracts and paying its shareholders and directors gigantic bonuses with UK taxes?
Amanda Baker
Edinburgh
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