Whitehall's largest trade union has attacked government plans to dispose of £16bn worth of assets, claiming past public sell-offs have not realised value for taxpayers. The Public and Commercial Services union last week warned prime minister, Gordon Brown, not to proceed with ‘selling off the family silver at a knock-down price to pay for the failure of the City's and other financial institutions'. Mr Brown last week revealed details of his public asset sale – part of the Treasury's plan to reduce record public borrowing levels exacerbated by the recession – which is likely to impact heavily on local authorities. As well as local authority assets, public organisations which face privatisation include the Tote bookmakers, the Student Loans book, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Government's share of a uranium-processing company. But Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, highlighted a chequered history of privatisations when reacting to news of the firesale. ‘We've already seen the Government's diabolical track record of selling off assets at a knock-down price, with the controversial sale of [defence research firm] Qinitiq, where chief executive, Sir John Chisholm, saw his personal investment of £130,000 increase to £26m on flotation. ‘Handing over key assets at a snip to private companies and possibly, some of the financial institutions, which caused the financial crisis in the first place is disgraceful, and will offer poor value to taxpayers.'
