ATOS - The Chancellor has to realise he cannot outsource responsibility for second-rate public services - Tom Watson

Tom Watson MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, responding to news that the Government is to review many contracts with ATOS, said:

“The Chancellor has to realise he cannot outsource responsibility for second-rate public services. The Osborne years have been characterised by a huge increase in the number of privatised services and a corresponding decrease in accountability and efficiency.

“As a growing number of these hurried privatisations begin to come unstuck the Cabinet Office has been asked to carry out a review to save George Osborne’s blushes. But until private providers of taxpayer-funded services are subject to the same transparency and accountability rules as their public counterparts, whatever steps the Cabinet Office takes to improve services are bound to fail.”