Pat McFadden MP has today written to Business Secretary Greg Clarke asking 10 questions about the financial information held by the Government in the run up to Carillion’s collapse.

The company, which has its HQ in Wolverhampton, employs 400 people in the city and another 40,000 around the world.

The questions posed by Mr McFadden focus on what help the company asked for from Government in the run up to liquidation and how the costs of this to the taxpayer compare with the potential costs facing the taxpayer from liquidation. His letter follows revelations yesterday in court documents lodged by Carillion CEO Keith Cochrane that the company made at least one approach to Government seeking financial help in the run up to its collapse.

Mr McFadden said:

“We know that Carillion sought financial help from Government as it sought to put together a rescue package in recent weeks. It is essential that we know what exactly the company was asking for and how the cost of that compares to the potential costs facing the taxpayer from liquidation. Unravelling Carillion is going to be a hugely complex task involving many different contracts and thousands of sub-contractors. What is the cost to the taxpayer of cleaning up this mess compared to what the costs might have been of keeping the company going? The Government must give clear answers to these questions so that the public knows what were the options before Ministers and what the impact on taxpayers is going to be from the path eventually chosen of allowing the company to collapse into liquidation.”