THE SNP has slammed the “eye-watering” £500-million-a-year legacy of the private finance initiative (PFI) in Scotland.

PFI was launched over 30 years ago by John Major’s Tory government in a bid to move borrowing off government balance sheets to meet convergence criteria for joining the euro.

It was enthusiastically adopted under the new name of PPP (public-private partnerships) by Tony Blair’s Labour government, with councils and public bodies across the country being incentivised to use it since.