Commenting on figures released by the Guaridan today (6 July) which reveal the full extent of Britain’s PFI liability to be £300 bn, UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said:
ÒUNISON has warned against PFI contracts from the start, and the mountain of debt that they have left with the British taxpayer is staggering.
ÒIt beggars belief that this Tory-led government, which did not hesitate to bail out the banks, has no intention of bailing out the NHS.
ÒNHS trusts across the UK are already on their knees, struggling in the face of an austerity agenda, and the enormous debts accumulated as a result of PFI contracts are making this pressure unsustainable.
ÒPatients and NHS workers will end up paying the price when hospital trusts have to shed jobs and cut much-needed services in order to cope with the pressure of debt repayments.
ÒThe NHS is just the start of the story; weÕre sitting on a PFI debt time bomb, and the sheer scale of the burden paints a seriously grim picture for the future of our public services.Ó
See full story here – http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/05/pfi-cost-300bn