Green Investment Bank: why did ministers dodge the real problem? | Nils Pratley

Government should have got binding commitments a private owner would continue to invest

The government's 1.6bn sale last year of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) to the Australian financial outfit Macquariewas a shambles, it was argued here at the time, and now the public accounts committee agrees. The rough summary of its report runs as follows: in their eagerness to trim a few quid from the national debt ministers accepted a few airy pledges from Macquarie about future investment and called them commitments.

The MPs' verdict makes a nonsense of the government's claim that a sale would deliver "the best of both worlds" - value for money and a new owner that would definitely use GIB to support UK energy policy and invest in low-carbon infrastructure. The price tag looks OK since the Treasury made a profit of 186m, but the boast about Macquarie's good intentions has been exposed as an exercise in hopeful assumptions. The Aussie financiers may decide to play ball, but, if they don't, there is little the government will be able to do.