Commenting on the news today that Carillion has gone into liquidation, John O'Connell, Chief Executive at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:
Despite the extremely well publicised financial difficulties Carillion has been experiencing in recent months, the government continued to award it contracts, disregarding its own risk management policies in the process.
Some of the most lucrative have been those for HS2 and this episode further underlines the fact that the government isn't capable of delivering this white elephant at a cost anywhere close to the initial budget. The flagrant disregard for taxpayers' money is nothing short of scandalous.
While an outright bailout has been ruled out, there will be a substantial cost to taxpayers of bringing contracts in house and re-tendering them. Those in government and the civil service responsible for this mess should be moved on before their misadventures cost taxpayers even more.
Note: You can read about whether PFI deals really are a waste of taxpayers' money on our blog here: http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/is_pfi_profit_really_a_waste_of_taxpayers_money