Not much initiative left

As one who always thought PFI schemes were a con where the taxpayer - me and you - lost out heavily in a system which seemed to be designed to line the pockets of consultants, bankers, carpet baggers from the City and bent senior civil servants I cannot quite understand the logic of the taxpayer - that's me and you again - bailing out belly-up schemes.

The whole idea was that these rag bag consortiums of convenience raised all the finance and took all the risk to build schools, hospitals and the like while the taxpayer paid heavily through the nose for the next 30 years. It was a system which by some miracle of accounting chicanery was cheaper than the taxpayer building these things for themselves and, by a happy coincidence, also kept billions in public expenditure off the Government books.

Now the Government is looking at ways to finance these failing schemes so can any explain the logic of putting up the cash for someone to build, for example, a hospital, and then we spend 30 years paying for something we provided the money for in the first place.

I know honest and Government cannot be used in the same sentence unless it is a joke but just for once would it not be more honest if there is a case to be made that these things still have to be built and public money is paying for them that we build them ourselves and cut out the considerable expense of the middle