SIX companies eager to get their mitts on public-sector contracts from collapsed outsourcing company Carillion were likened to a rogues’ gallery by Labour today.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister John Trickett accused the government of trying to whitewash the opposition day debate, pre-empting the discussion by giving MPs the “extraordinary list.”

One firm had donated money to the Tories, two others had blacklisted workers, one is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for suspected bribery and corruption, one had been caught “red-handed” ripping off customers, one uses the Cayman Islands to avoid tax and another is part of a group that has exploited migrant workers in Qatar.

In the Commons, Mr Trickett simply exclaimed: “WTF?”

He lambasted the government for farming out public services and construction projects to “a handful of corporations that are too big to fail” and said that the public is tired of the Tories’ efforts to outsource everything in sight.

Labour had pushed for a Commons vote — after the Star went to press — to force ministers to reveal what risk assessments they had made of Carillion before its collapse earlier this month.

The motion tabled by Labour also called on the government to release the assessments of all government strategic suppliers, along with any plans it had made to reduce risk, to the public accounts committee.

Labour intended to have MPs vote on a “humble address” to the monarch, an obscure parliamentary instrument, asking her to direct ministers to release the documents.

Mr Trickett said that a refusal to hand over the papers would effectively amount to saying that the committee of MPs should not perform its role of scrutinising government.

Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington promised that the government would comply with the will of the house. But he stated that the committee “already has powers to require the government release the papers” and warned that the information is “highly commercially sensitive.”

Ministers have an “overriding obligation” to ensure releasing such information would not cause risk to the markets, damage suppliers, jobs, and the delivery of public services, he claimed.

GMB general secretary Tim Roache said: “The greed of company bosses and woeful failures of the Tory government have put workers’ jobs on the line and their pensions under threat.

“Carillion workers are being punished for others’ excesses. It’s beyond disgraceful that Carillion bosses have been lining their own pockets while running the company into the ground unchecked.

“Workers are now facing sleepless nights over their jobs and pensions while Carillion shareholders are laughing all the way to the bank. The Tories have let them get away with it.”