SNP accused of hypocrisy after attack on PFI costs

SNP parliamentarians have criticised the private finance initiative ( PFI) funding of North Lanarkshire schools after figures showed that the payments for this year will amount to £ 22.5 million.

Alex Neil and Fulton MacGregor called PFI a “toxic legacy” and Neil Gray MP said the local authority is paying over the odds for buildings constructed under the programme.

However, council leader Jim Logue said he would never apologise for the construction of dozens of new education buildings across the area.

Sstatistics showed councils’ PFI costs for the new financial year, with North Lanarkshire paying £22.5m towards a 31-year finance deal ending in 2037.

The deal funded schools valued at a combined total of £150m, with the total repayments set to cost five times that sum, which the two MSPs say “continues to rob North Lanarkshire Council of vital funding for education and other public services”.

Mr MacGregor and Mr Neil said: “Labour’s PFI deals continue to cost our schools and North Lanarkshire Council millions of pounds every year.

“It’s increasingly clear that we’re still paying for the mess Labour left a decade ago. These funds could be put towards delivering better services.”

Mr Gray, the Airdrie MP, said: “This is another example of the shocking financial mismanagement that has dogged this Labour-led administration.

“They have paid way over the odds for schools and that is now coming back to bite them.

“Labour councillors cry wolf about cuts but they need to look closer to home to realise where the responsibility lies.”

Councillor Logue defended the PFI programme and called the criticism “sheer hypocrisy on the part of the SNP”.

He told the Advertiser: “If we hadn’t used PFI there would have been no new schools built. We wouldn’t have these new schools in Airdrie, Coatbridge or any of the 38 built since the first school in Caldercruix in 2006.

“Are they seriously saying we shouldn’t have built any of those?

“The figure for 30 years is for design, build and maintenance. It’s not just the building work but that these schools are also maintained for 30 years.

“I’m comfortable with the figures from 2005-2006 and comparing and contrasting the interest rate then and now.

The Scottish Futures Trust is exactly the same model. There’s no difference. It’s sheer hypocrisy and there are times when it almost appears to me that attacking the council is just part of sport for national politicians.

“We’ll never apologise for building state- of- the- art schools to provide children in North Lanarkshire with the best possible start in life and we’re committed to continuing that support.”