Crashing the Money Train

The National Audit Office has once again placed itself under threat of privatisation by concluding that the Government stiffed the taxpayer over the sale of the Eurostar cross-channel train service. In accordance with the Government's long-term economic plan (viz. filch followed by fire-sale), Eurostar was sold off before the election at a loss to the taxpayer of four-fifths of the sum invested. Retaining the national stake would eventually have met the investment costs, but that might have taken ten years and would not have involved forcing the public to pay the private sector's way, in accordance with the commandments of market forces, hard-working families and the sainted Thatcher. The National Audit Office concluded that, although the sale itself was managed effectively, the Government might learn a thing or two by getting independent assessments of national assets before flogging them off, rather than paying consultants with public money and then priming them with other valuations. Fortunately, the Government's immunity to evidence means that ministers believe the National Audit Office has concluded that the whole business went wonderfully, because the process of selling is all that matters.