Searchable article text
RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2015 :: RMTnews
5
The taxpayer has lost a
whopping £2 billion from the
fire sale of Eurostar, a
government audit has revealed.
A National Audit Office
report claimed that the sell-off
of the government’s 40 per cent
stake in the Channel Tunnel
operator to a Canadian firm
achieved the Treasury’s goal of
maximising proceeds.
But the £757 million received
fell far short of the £3 billion
that the British public invested
in Eurostar — and the report
said that the timing of the
privatisation was dictated by the
government’s aim to sell the
railway before the election.
“The total taxpayer
investment in Eurostar, prior to
its incorporation, is significantly
greater than the proceeds
generated from this sale.
“The NAO believes that the
timing of the sale, agreed in
2014, was primarily driven by
the desire to sell prior to the
2015 election,” an NAO
statement said.
Commons public accounts
committee chair Meg Hillier said
that the sale had deprived the
public of a potential £750
million in dividends in the next
decade.
“Once sold, the family silver
can’t be bought back,” she said.
RMT general secretary Mick
Cash said that the sale
amounted to a “gross rip-off by
anyone’s standards”.
“However you dress it up the
fire sale of the UK’s Eurostar
stake before the election has
cost the taxpayer billions in
wasted investment and lost
future profits.
“With another £62 billion of
our public assets set to be
flogged off under this
government, the Eurostar fiasco
paints a grim picture of
profiteering and bargain
basement deals that rob the
British people.
“Our family silver is being
unloaded by the Tories to their
friends and backers in the City
at knock-down prices in a
process driven by a combination
of stupidity, greed and
Thatcherite ideology,” he said.
A consultants’ report
published recently on the impact
of High Speed One (HS1), the
new line built to link the
Channel Tunnel with St Pancras
station in London, found its
financial benefits were just half
the amount of money it cost.
Labour shadow education
secretary Lilian Greenwood
called for a new approach to the
railways which put passengers
first and “leaves the Tories’
ideological opposition to public
ownership behind”.
EUROSTAR SELL-OFF COST
TAXPAYERS £2 BILLION
‘Family Silver’ sold
off depriving the
public of a potential
£750 million in
dividends in the
next decade