Today the Guardian runs a mostt important interveiw with George Osborne. In it it he makes some crucial points. 1. The government has borrowed far too much off balance sheet through Private Finance Initiatives, Public/private Partnerships and similar deals. These need to be evaluated, and their true liabilities and costs put into the public accounts. 2. Green

New proposals approved by the Liberal Democrat Autumn Conference include: Only using private finance when it is shown that this can provide better value for money to the taxpayer than public finance. Allowing local and devolved government to borrow money to invest, rather than having to use PFI. Undertaking better evaluations of the value for money offered by PFIs. Ensuring all PFI projects a...

A Conservative government could make "significant" cuts in the rate of corporation tax Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has said.

A Conservative Government would impose a oneyear pay freeze on the majority of public sector workers to get the state deficit under control shadow chancellor George Osborne has said.

If there's one area where the Tories are going to really make their mark in Whitehall, it will be in IT procurement. The Labour Government's record has been dire, signing contracts for projects that are too complex and that predictably fail to deliver the reliability and security that the public expects. The result is that seven out of ten government IT projects fail. George Osborne'...

Shadow Chancellor in warning Britain’s dire public finances will impose a “straitjacket” on an incoming Conservative government for years to come, the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, claims today, as he declares that he is conducting a careful review of his economic plans in the light of the downturn. In an interview with the Guardian, Osborne claims that

Norman LambOver £2.5bn-worth of hospital building projects are under threat due to problems with the Government’s Private Finance Initiative, figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats have revealed. 12 major PFI projects have been cancelled, half of all NHS projects that were due to be finalised this year or last.  Projects that cannot find private finance to fund them include a ...

Chancellor George Osborne announces a "fundamental reassessment" of the use of Private Finance Initiative contracts in a bid to cut costs and improve transparency.

From the BBC: The government could have to bail out Private Finance Initiative projects to the tune of £4bn in the next 18 months, an industry spokesman has warned. Tim Pearson, of the PPP (public-private partnership) Forum, said the recession was limiting loans to firms on PFI projects like schools and hospitals. PFI was originally a way of getting assets and liabilities off the government ...

Scotland's finance secretary urges UK Chancellor George Osborne to borrow billions of pounds to fund major projects.