AS A host of Scottish private finance initiative (PFI) contracts come to a costly end, a political row has erupted over its continued use.

This method of raising finance for public projects began to be used in the 1990s by John Major’s Tory government, as the cost of projects would no longer feature as public-sector borrowing, and Mr Major hoped this would in turn enable Britain to meet convergence criteria for joining the euro.

This “off-balance-sheet” approach was further ramped up by Tony Blair’s Labour government, with many of the contracts scheduled to last for 25 or 30 years, with the buildings returning to public hands at that point.

But as many of these deals come to an end, BBC Scotland has revealed that as many as 11 PFIs in Scotland will need to be bought out at the ends of their contracts, leaving bodies such as NHS boards facing a multimillion-pound bill to settle them.

The SNP, which claimed to have “abolished PFI” on taking office in 2007, was quick to slam this bill as Labour’s wasteful legacy.

SNP MSP Kenny Gibson said: “16 years after they were kicked out of office, Scottish taxpayers are still having to pay a heavy price for Labour’s wasteful PFI contracts, to the detriment of our public services and local councils.

“It is a disgrace that throughout Scotland the public has been forced to shell out billions of pounds over and above the actual cost of the projects in order to keep control of vital public buildings to service our communities — all while PFI contractors rake in huge profits.”

But the SNP have been accused of hypocrisy over PFI, having continued with the practice over its 16 years in power.

The Scottish Futures Trust is still in widespread use to build schools, while the NHS is compelled to use HubCo for projects such as health centres. Both the trust and HubCo are PFI models.

And in March, Green MSP Lorna Slater signed off on the biggest single PFI deal in Scottish history to expand woodlands on behalf of the SNP-Green government.

Long-term opponent of PFI Labour’s Richard Leonard told the Star “This is a classic case of the SNP talking left but acting right.

“In government it has continued to deploy private financing of public infrastructure through their Scottish Futures Trust.

“And now with the Greens, [the SNP is] selling off land and woodlands to vulture capitalists.”