10 August 2001
More than 100 companies have now joined the PPP Forum, an umbrella body designed to 'support the government in promoting the positive aspects of PPPs'.
Still in its infancy, the forum is bankrolled by some of the major banks and construction companies, including Carillion, PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Halifax and could prove a powerful lobbying force to counter the unions and some backbench Labour MPs.
The forum has already identified a number of pro-PPP ministers and MPs – including Estelle Morris, Andrew Smith and Stafford backbencher David Kidney – who could be 'helpful' to projects in their constituencies.
Forum director Cathy McGlynn, a former Labour special adviser, said MPs would be contacted and offered information as a way of combating the 'myths and scaremongering' surrounding PPPs. 'There will always be very Left-wing Labour MPs,' she told Public Finance. 'But there has been a gap in communication and we are aiming to make PPP simpler for people to understand.'
PFaug2001
