We have always known that PFI was a con trick (i) to take construction and management costs of hospitals and other public buildings offline so they don’t appear in the national accounts, and (ii) to secure the extremely lucrative privatisation of yet another public service at taxpayers’ expense. But the evidence of how the new […]
Posts Tagged ‘PFI’
Why does Labour stick to Tory austerity plans the stats show can’t be achieved?
Jul 24th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.Osborne’s boast that he would shrink the welfare state to its small scale in 1948 has been definitively scuppered by a report from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). These official figures reveal that there are at least 6 major areas of public expenditure which are currently escalating rapidly and make it impossible to reconcile […]
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Instead of charging for the NHS, try cutting the costs of privatisation
Apr 1st, 2014 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Let’s get one thing straight from the off. The idea of charging a £10/month NHS “membership fee” is bloody stupid. Not just because it violates the principle that health provision should take place, but for a whole host of other practical reasons. But let’s glide Lord Warner’s suggestion into a lay-by for the moment and deal with […]
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First anniversary of GMB strike action against Carillion
Feb 14th, 2013 by Andy Newman.Today is the anniversary of the first of 22 days of strike action by GMB members at the Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon, one of the earliest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) build and operate hospitals, and only the second opened by Carillion. This long running industrial dispute between the union and Carillion, over the […]
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Ten years of Carillion putting profits before patients at PFI hospital
Dec 3rd, 2012 by Andy Newman.This week marks the tenth anniversary of Swindon’s Great Western Hospital (GWH) opening in Swindon, one of the earliest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) build and operate hospitals, and only the second opened by Carillion. The anniversary was marked today by a dozen GMB shop stewards protesting outside, highlighting the long running industrial dispute between the union and […]
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Labour must challenge the canard: public sector bad, private sector good
Jul 18th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Nothing shows more starkly the relentless grip on the public consciousness (and above all the politicians) that the corporate sector has secured than the absurd fixation with outsourcing. It is automatically assumed to be more efficient, more innovative, more dynamic. Sometimes it is, sometimes it all ends in tears and the State has to pick […]
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Government drive for privatisation shows private sector not fit for purpose
Jul 16th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.It is a delicious paradox that the one persistent theme in the Coalition’s ideology is privatising everything in the public sector that moves, yet nothing has exposed the inadequacies and incompetences of privatisation so ruthlessly as the Government’s enthusiasm for it. The highlight at the moment is the Olympics security fiasco caused by mismanagement at […]
