PFI and tax avoidance.

On the same day that 2000 Army and RAF were given their redundancy notices there came a report from the public accounts committee exposing yet more financial skullduggery.

“City investors have made bumper profits from taxpayers by buying up the contracts for schools and hospitals funded through the private finance initiative and taking the proceeds offshore, the public accounts committee warned on Thursday.

"They're milking the PFI system for profit," Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, told the Guardian, accusing Treasury officials of being "dreadfully complacent" about tackling the issue.

Under the PFI, which was created by the Tories but expanded rapidly when Gordon Brown was chancellor, private firms agree to build and run schools, hospitals and other public infrastructure under long-term contracts, typically 30 years.

The arrangement means the Treasury can keep the costs off its balance sheet, but in a highly critical report, the cross-party committee says the PFI became "the only game in town" after 1997, and Whitehall officials failed to ensure the taxpayer was getting value for money. In particular, the committee criticises the Treasury for assuming PFI contractors would pay tax, when many are based in offshore tax havens.” Investors 'using tax havens to cash in on PFI contracts' Guardian 1/9/11

It is time to mobilise a mass movement against these tax dodging freeloaders. They enjoy security and many services in the UK yet pay diddly doo dah. The pathetic pre-emptive moaning from the Bankers ahead of the report into their actions reinforces the need to take action. It is now THREE YEARS since the collapse. 'Action' is promised by 2019! What a farce. What a charade. Cameron and his cronies do not know that we know they are subsidised by bankers and financiers - hence the lack of action. It is scratchy back time again.


We are many - they are few. For a start people can transfer their accounts to the handful of decent banks. For another, whenever Richard Branson or Philip Green or similar sleazeballs appear in public in the UK they should be greeted with howls of outrage for their decision to tax avoid. 

Many people are simmering and feel alienated from our political system. It is nothing new. Jimmy Reid speaking on his election as Glasgow University Vice-Chancellor back in the 1970’s. 

"Alienation is the precise and correctly applied word for describing the major social problem in Britain today … it is the cry of men who feel themselves the victims of blind economic forces beyond their control. It's the frustration of ordinary people excluded from the processes of decision making." 

The fightback has begun. Students at Glasgow have just completed a successful 7 month occupation to reverse swingeing cuts to courses and pensions. They can have the last word.

“they will tell you that the decision has already been made, that you can't fight and win. This is because they are scared of you, scared that you'll band together. To borrow a popular chant from the student movement, there are many many more of us than them.”

Glasgow students inspired by the spirit of Red Clydeside, Guardian