Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Labour stuck on short term fixes with return to PFI

Ministers refuse to rule out mortgaging the future of the Welsh economy

Labour could saddle Wales with a financial time bomb if they were to return to a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) system in Wales according to Plaid Cymru’s Local Government spokesperson and Carmarthenshire Assembly Member.  Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM said he was amazed that even though PFI projects had been exposed as poor value for money both the Education Minister, and the Local Government Minister refused to rule out using PFI contracts when questioned at the Assembly.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM said:

“When I questioned both the Education Minister and the Local Government Minister they refused to rule out the use of PFI in Wales.  If Leighton Andrews, Carl Sergeant and the new Labour administration do accept the use of PFI contracts in Wales, they will have failed to have learnt from past mistakes. 

 

“Reintroducing PFI to Welsh government spending would be a hugely damaging short term view to take.  The fact that Labour Ministers did not take the opportunity to rule it out seems highly irresponsible, especially considering the current state of the economy.

 

“I would be seriously concerned if Labour opted to place significant financial burdens on Wales by embarking on a series of PFI schemes.  We have seen past examples of PFI schemes being poor value for money.  PFI simply does not make any financial sense in the long run.

 

“In considering PFI in areas such as education and transport Labour are trying to plug the capital spending shortfall with short term fixes.  However, in the long term PFI will, as we already know, have a detrimental impact on the Welsh budget. 

 

“We do have to look at innovative ways to invest in schools, roads and hospitals in light of the cuts being imposed by Tories and Lib Dems in Westminster, but they have to be sustainable.  In contrast to Labour’s short term approach, Plaid Cymru has put forward our Build4Wales proposal that has a long term view and could create up to 50,000 jobs in the process.”

ENDS / DIWEDD

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