THE Carillion scandal has shown how clueless this Tory Government is at securing value for money for the taxpayer when it comes to central government contracts involving the private sector.

It ignored warnings that the company was in big trouble.

Profit warning reports that said loud and clear that Carillion was an extremely bad risk and it was going to the wall.

Yet the Tories continued to pour millions of pounds worth of taxpayers' money into this sinking ship.

If it had been their own money, they wouldn't have touched Carillion with a barge pole.

And this is where the Tory Government contradicts itself.

For the past nearly 8 years, it has preached its mantra of how the last Labour Government was irresponsible on a large scale with the public purse.

No magic money tree to justify austerity cuts to essential local services and at the same time, it has been propping up big business with public funding.

This culture has to end.

Proof positive that when public services are outsourced, accountability is non-existent and not a high priority.

I feel very sorry for those small businesses involved and those who have lost their jobs through this.

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