THE SNP have blamed Labour and the Lib Dems’ “toxic” legacy of private finance for the latest figures on Scotland’s finances showing that PFI payments have risen to £1 billion per year for the first time.
SNP MSP Ivan McKee, who sits on the Scottish Parliament’s Finance Committee, is calling on both parties to apologise for their actions after the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report revealed unitary charge payments relating to PFI projects rose to £1 billion in 2015/16 – up from £969 million in the previous year.
He said: “The scale of PFI repayments is now absolutely staggering, showing the sheer incompetence and damaging legacy of the previous Labour and Lib Dem executive which is holding Scotland back to this day.
“Deals like the PFI contract for Addiewell Prison, recently revealed as costing the public purse nearly £1bn in total for an £80m building, will leave taxpayers paying way over the odds for years to come.
“Labour and Lib Dem enthusiasm for ruinously expensive, Tory-style PFI deals is still costing the public purse way over the odds, and won’t be forgotten in a hurry.
“Rather than indulging in over-the-top rhetoric on Scotland’s public finances, Kezia Dugdale and Willie Rennie would do well to reflect on how their own party’s failures are costing Scottish taxpayers a fortune, and apologise for landing Scotland with a billion-pound bill.”
Many schools, hospitals and prisons in Scotland are built under private finance initiative (PFI) schemes.
Private Addiewell prison is set to cost taxpayers nearly £1bn in a shocking PFI deal – 12 times more than it would cost to build.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Scottish Labour supports a review of all PFI-style projects, including those built with the SNP’s version of PFI.”
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