Row over accountants 'bias' on PPP

THE ROW over Labour's close links with accountancy firms spilled over into the future of the Tube as a leading union condemned the imminent and crucial report on the cost of the planned part-privatisation (PPP) of the network as a fix.

The row centred on the role of Ernst & Young, whose long-awaited value-for-money report on the PPP proposals will be published by Transport Secretary Stephen Byers next week. Today the GMB general union produced figures showing Ernst & Young had already worked on more than 30 Government part-privatisation projects with a total capital value of more than £1.7bn.

GMB leader John Edmonds said the company had already 'made millions' from the policy and claimed it was ludicrous for Byers to declare that the accountants could offer an independent view.

He said: 'This report is effectively tainted before it has even been published. If ministers want to continue with their privatisation of the public sector they should at least have the courage to do so without hiding behind the skirts of the public sector. How can Ernst & Young possibly be regarded as independent when they are making millions from the very policy they are supposed to be analysing?'

It is not known how much Ernst & Young have made from their PPP work. A Treasury spokesman said: 'These details are not normally given because they are confidential contract arrangements.'

The union clearly believes Ernst & Young will conclude the Government's Tube proposals offer value for money. The row follows the furore over collapsed energy giant Enron and the close links between its accountants, Arthur Andersen, and the Government.