Part of 2. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:53 pm on 27 September 2017.
Could we turn to the present, then? Because the Welsh Government obviously is involved in the use of public-private partnerships, yes, through the mutual investment model involving a minority share held by the Welsh Government, but the majority share, 75 per cent and above, is held by the private sector, using the Government’s own language, where
‘private partners build and maintain public assets’, and where
‘the Welsh Government will pay a fee to the private partner, which will cover the cost of construction, maintenance and financing the project.’
Similar schemes in Scotland have been described by the Scottish Labour Party as ‘PFI by another name’. Indeed, the contract for the new A465 project, which has just been laid, is based on the old NHS PFI standard contract. So, can the Cabinet Secretary say whether it is now Labour Party policy in Wales, and Welsh Government policy, to bring the 75 per cent or so of these projects, which will remain in private ownership, back into public ownership in the event of the election of a Labour Government at Westminster?