THE government should add £35 billion of debts from private finance initiative projects to its books to give a more honest picture of how far in the red the UK is, MPs demand

A reasonably balanced and informative article on the most recent contortions by the government over PFI (Private finance looks for public help, 18 April) was spoilt by the last paragraph claiming that "even the PFI industry's harshest critics expect it to survive". We do not! The private finance initiative was always a lie. It was expedient in 1997 for the incoming Labour government to champi...

Since Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) were introduced by the Major government in 1992, they have been fraught with controversy. Despite promising to reduce costs and improve efficiency, projects have tended to go over budget and overtime. PFI allows the Government...

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...

Finance Secretary John Swinney faces growing pressure from business and his political opponents as he prepares to set out his plans for a new way to finance government capital projects.

Young people starting work this year will pay taxes for the Government's Private Finance Initiative until they are nearly 70.

Regulation of hedge fund and private equity fund managers in Europe is poised to go ahead after European Union finance ministers reached agreement on new rules for the alternative investment fund sector

Fears are now growing that many private equity (PE) takeovers will go bust. Almost none of the conditions needed for the kind of takeovers that unions were most worried about are now in play:     There is no longer easy cheap loan finance available from banks. Many PE takeovers were highly...

Four private equity houses are to open offices as part of a £200m-plus fund to provide growth finance to SMEs outside London and the south-east

Government ministers have stepped in to take on the risk of the struggling private finance initiative (PFI) which had been created with the express purpose of avoiding risk falling on the public purse.