CAPITA’S 12-year contract to run military fire and rescue services shows up the whole rotten system of outsourcing that blights our public services.

Within months of the collapse of Carillion, which continued to snap up lucrative government contracts well after ministers knew that it was in trouble, the Tories are continuing to gamble with workers’ livelihoods and public funds alike by commissioning firms that could hit the rocks at any time to carry out essential work.

Last July when, despite Carillion’s disastrous 2017 profit warning sending share prices tumbling, ministers saw fit to hand it a £450 million rail construction contract, Chris “Failing” Grayling claimed that the government had “made sure [Carillion’s problems] were not an issue for these contracts.”