LOCAL COUNCILS BEING RIPPED OFF BY ROTTEN PFI CONTRACTS

Recent figures show Midlothian Council is being ripped off to the tune of £11 million and East Lothian £10 million, as they continue to pay for wretched PFI contracts – eating in to vital council education spending.Research from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has found that the amount being forked out by Midlothian Council is 12% and East Lothian 10%, of its education resource funding, meaning millions are being wasted on the contracts.
PFI contracts were introduced by the Tories and adopted by Labour during their time at the helm of the Scottish Government.
Commenting, Colin Beattie said:
“The rotten PFI contracts were introduced by the Tories but supercharged by the Labour-led Scottish Government and unnecessarily cost councils across Scotland, including in Midlothian and East Lothian.
“It is incredible that the lasting legacy of Labour governments continues to be felt as schools’ budgets are eaten up significantly by these wretched contracts.
“The SNP scrapped PFI contracts, meaning that money can be spent on Scotland’s young people and not on absurdly expensive contracts.
“This demonstrates how we still cannot trust Labour with the public purse in Scotland as we continue to pay for their disastrous decisions in government.”