*****e,
Ok, I get it, this is to pay for the next 27 years. But in their press release, AirTanker state that they're raising 2.5 bn quid - which implies a lot of service if the total cost to UK taxpayers is 13bn (or c. 0.5bn / pa).
It may be that the numbers add up - I don't know, I've not seen them; but an equally important point to the value for money (vfm) one is this: what happens if the PFI provider starts losing money? It does happen, and as we saw with the Tube PPP / PFI fiasco, if they lose enough money, then the private sector walks away, leaving the state to take over if the service is sufficiently important. And an RAF without AAR is capable of doing....?
So in effect, we've written the classic "heads you win, tails I lose" contract with the private sector, which in the case that they lose money we still pick up the tab and under every other scenario, they make a profit.
Why?
Simply because this government - freely elected, and in power to make these choices - has decided not to find the capital to purchase these mission-critical assets.
And it's that that I have a problem with....
S41
PS, the last budget was the chickens of Brown + Balls' profligacy in a favourable economic climate since about 1999 coming home to roost. See "The Economist", passim.
None of which should have any impact on FSTA as it should've been ordered years ago when, ooh look, there was plenty of cash at HMT.
[Edited for spollink and PS]