Few things unite Philip Hammond and his Labour counterpart John McDonnell, but a mistrust of PFI is a rare exception. In October, the chancellor killed off the deeply discredited private finance initiative, saying: “I remain committed to the use of public-private partnership where it delivers value for the taxpayer, but there is compelling evidence that the private finance initiative does [not].

“I have never signed off a PFI contract as chancellor, and I can confirm today that I never will. I can announce that the government will abolish the use of PFI.”

In doing so, he stole McDonnell’s thunder. The shadow chancellor had claimed the moral high ground with his plan to nationalise PFIs.

Yet this political one-upmanship has created a problem that will, I