Carillion Collapse Could Lead to Thousands of Job Losses in U.K.
- 6 years ago
Carillion Collapse Could Lead to Thousands of Job Losses in U.K.
Mrs. May replied that if the government had withheld business from Carillion, “that
would be the best way to ensure that companies failed and jobs were lost.”
“We ensured that all but one of those contracts was a joint venture,” she added, meaning
that “there is another company available to step in and take over the contract.”
The Insolvency Service, a government agency, said on Wednesday that it had halted bonus and severance payments to former Carillion executives.
LONDON — The fate of thousands of workers hung in the balance on Wednesday after the collapse of Carillion, a major construction and services company
that has a vast network of subcontractors and reaches deep into many facets of British life.
But Interserve, business analysts and the government all said
that concerns about the company were overstated; in a statement, the Cabinet Office said, “We do not believe that any of our strategic suppliers are in a comparable position to Carillion.”
Carillion, with about 20,000 employees in Britain, touched myriad sectors of British life, as well as operating overseas.
But the government has said that it could not ensure
that thousands of the company’s employees working on private-sector projects would be paid past Wednesday.
“It looks like the government was handing Carillion public contracts either to keep the company afloat, which clearly hasn’t worked, or it was just deeply negligent of the crisis
that was coming down the line,” Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said in Parliament on Wednesday.
Mrs. May replied that if the government had withheld business from Carillion, “that
would be the best way to ensure that companies failed and jobs were lost.”
“We ensured that all but one of those contracts was a joint venture,” she added, meaning
that “there is another company available to step in and take over the contract.”
The Insolvency Service, a government agency, said on Wednesday that it had halted bonus and severance payments to former Carillion executives.
LONDON — The fate of thousands of workers hung in the balance on Wednesday after the collapse of Carillion, a major construction and services company
that has a vast network of subcontractors and reaches deep into many facets of British life.
But Interserve, business analysts and the government all said
that concerns about the company were overstated; in a statement, the Cabinet Office said, “We do not believe that any of our strategic suppliers are in a comparable position to Carillion.”
Carillion, with about 20,000 employees in Britain, touched myriad sectors of British life, as well as operating overseas.
But the government has said that it could not ensure
that thousands of the company’s employees working on private-sector projects would be paid past Wednesday.
“It looks like the government was handing Carillion public contracts either to keep the company afloat, which clearly hasn’t worked, or it was just deeply negligent of the crisis
that was coming down the line,” Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said in Parliament on Wednesday.