Made-in-Wales investment model 'avoids crippling PFI trap' says Drakeford

A "CREATIVE workaround" to limited borrowing powers has delivered an extra £1.1bn for Wales while avoiding the same “crippling” pitfalls as PFI, the Welsh finance secretary has claimed.

- By CHRIS HAINES

Speaking in the Senedd, Mark Drakeford explained £1.14bn for projects including the new Velindre cancer centre and A465 works “simply would not have happened” otherwise.

The Welsh Government designed the mutual investment model (MIM) an alternative to the controversial UK private finance initiative (PFI) policy as a way to leverage private finance due to a scarcity of funding for longer-term infrastructure.

Mr Drakeford told Senedd members the Welsh Government's capital budget has totalled around £15bn this term, so the model has bolstered spending by 7.5%.

Arguing that the Welsh Government's decision to reject PFI has been vindicated, he said: "Wales suffers neither from the stranded assets that have occurred in England, nor do we face the ongoing disputes that surround the return to public ownership of facilities from PFI stewardship.