"ASTONISHING BLUNDERS" FROM CBI SCOTLAND CHIEF.

"ASTONISHING BLUNDERS" FROM CBI SCOTLAND CHIEF.

SNP MSP Alex Neil has today (Sunday) described comments by CBI Scotland director Iain McMillan - calling for the sale or mutualisation of Scottish Water to help pay for the new Forth crossing, via a PFI/PPP model - as an astonishing blunder.

Mr Neil said:
“These are astonishing blunders by the director of the CBI in Scotland. Iain McMillan must know that Treasury rules mean that the UK Government stands to keep hold of funds raised in Scotland in the way he suggests, meaning that his idea is a complete non-starter.

“Mr McMillan also appears to have failed to grasp the new international accounting rules coming into effect which mean that all public capital projects, like the new Forth crossing, must come on balance sheet, meaning they can no longer be subject to an off-balance sheet dodge through PFI/PPP schemes.

“Using such a scheme for the new Forth crossing would make no sense at all, as it would see all the capital costs of the project coming on to the Scottish Government’s budget in one single year.

“Most people have grasped this fact, but the head of one of Scotland’s major business organisations seems to be oblivious to it.

“Iain McMillan is a member of the Calman Commission, but so far no one else on this body has put forward this idea – perhaps because they know how much of a non-starter it is. Perhaps Mr McMillan needs to spend less time on the Calman Commission and more time doing his day job.”