Local authority has Scotland’s third highest PFI bill

Christina McKelvie MSP has hit out at figures which show that South Lanarkshire council will pay out over £90 million pounds to service PFI contracts in the next three years alone. The huge bill is the third highest facing any Scottish local authority, exceeded only by Glasgow and Edinburgh.

PFI/PPP (Private Finance Initiative/Public Private Partnerships) is the preferred capital investment procurement scheme of Labour and was used during its time in the Scottish Executive between 1999 and 2007. The scheme is now costing council tax payers in South Lanarkshire millions of pounds in inflated costs.

Commenting, the Central Scotland SNP MSP Christina McKelvie said:

“Labour’s PFI scheme is proving to be a total waste of taxpayers’ money and those in South Lanarkshire are being hit harder than most. How can over £90million over the next three years be value for public money?

“Thanks to their obsession with mortgaging out public sector facilities to private companies, the former Labour-led Scottish Executive has landed local councils with huge additional costs at a time when public finances are under enormous pressure.

“Public services in Scotland are already being hit by the £500m worth of cuts handed to the Scottish budget by Labour in Westminster. It is a disgrace that they also have to shoulder the massive financial burden of Scottish Labour’s PFI legacy.”