The Socialist 17 June 2008

No! to racism: Yes! to decent jobs, homes & public services

No! to racism: Yes! to decent jobs, homes and public services

Unite and fight against racism

Protest at BNP 'hate festival'

Let AmDani stay!

conference

Lisbon Treaty 'No' vote delivers major shock for political and big business Establishment

Shell drivers strike

David Davis - sanity or carving a position?

Greater Manchester - save your post office

London protest over Rajapaksa's dismal human rights record

Stop big business polluting our environment

Stop New Labour's divisive school academy plans

NHS: Polyclinics - Stop this backdoor privatisation

PFI - a very bad deal for the NHS

Reopen the battle on NHS pay

End the occupations

Unison conference: Angry delegates attack leaders

Leeds: Stop Beeston post office closures

National Shop Stewards Network Conference

CWU's link with Labour hotly debated

Victory against bosses at Keele

Workplace news in brief

Previous issues, etc

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PFI - a very bad deal for the NHS

IF YOUR local shop had an offer, "one for the price of three", they would not get much trade. Yet that's the kind of deal offered to health trusts by Private Finance Initiative (PFI) consortia on building hospitals. If you include rent, fees and additional interest charges, the costs of PFI deals in Britain's hospitals can be two and sometimes three times as great as publicly financed agreements.

PFI firms build hospitals and lease them back over 30-60 year commercial contracts. In Scotland's first PFI hospital, Hairmyres in East Kilbride, for instance, construction firm Keir and finance firm Innisfree originally put in £8.4 million of 'their own money.'

Using Freedom of Information laws, two Scottish economists found that over 30 years they will recoup an estimated £145 million. That is double the cost of building the hospital through public finance through the National Loan Scheme, even though the contractors put their cash at very little risk.

With extra profits from operating and maintenance costs, the ratio may be as high as three to one. PFI is a very expensive way of transferring money from the health service to the bank accounts of building and financial capitalism. PFI must go.

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No! to racism: Yes! to decent jobs, homes and public services