London Underground

I will not try to referee the contest on the Labour Benches. I agree that it is not necessarily possible to draw general conclusions from this or that PPP, although it might be possible to draw conclusions about the Treasury. What kind of PPP was this? We have heard about the tied supply chain. It is a disgrace that Metronet should give business to its parent companies without any defence, ensuring neither value for money nor the exposure of those companies in the event of a problem. How could that have got past the Government when the project was set up? On 17 October, Chris Bolt, the rail regulator but also the arbitrator in this case, told the Committee that Metronet saw this as ““a cost-plus contract””. That was his assessment: Metronet was there to bump up the price. It wanted to add bits and pieces, and to charge London Underground for the privilege of doing so. We learn that Metronet had equity of only £350 million, which was completely inadequate in relation to the cost of the scheme. The main question to be asked is why on earth it was allowed to get away with the tied supply chain, the cost-plus outlook and the inadequate equity. How can the PPP have been set up on that basis? I remind the House that the Government spent £500 million on legal assistance and consultancy fees. I do not know what advice was being given, but it seems to me that the Treasury might have recouped at least some money for the taxpayer by asking for a refund, because it was obviously singularly badly advised.