Jeremy Corbyn accused the Tory government of "negligence" in their dealings with stricken construction giant Carillion.

In a Prime Minister Questions dominated by the collapse of the super-firm, Theresa May was asked to explain why the government awarded firms worth £2 billion went to Carillion despite the warning signs.

The firm plunged into liquidation o n Monday, threatening 20,000 jobs and leaving the taxpayer on the hook for a reputed hundreds of millions of pounds.

Mr Corbyn said: "Either to keep the company afloat or it was just deeply negligent of the crisis which was coming down the line."

Mrs May hit back saying that if the government had backed out of dealing with Carillion it would have made the situation worse saying: "That would be the best way to ensure that companies failed and jobs were lost."

Theresa May hit back accusing Labour of 'putting politics before people'

But Jeremy Coryn said that the collapse of the firm which employs 20,000 people is not an “isolated case” of negligence and failure.

“It’s a broken system.” he said.

“Virgin and Stagecoach can spectacularly mismanage the East Coast main line and be let off £2billion payment.

“Capita and Atos can continue to wreck the lives of through damaging disability assessments of many people with disabilities and win more government-funded contracts."

In a fiery exchange Theresa May hit out at the Welsh Labour government who have contracts with Carillion and Labour-run Leeds City Council who have named the firm as their preferred bidder for an orbital road.

At the same time she refused to take responsibility for the government's role saying: "the government does not run Carillion; it is a customer."

Jeremy Corbyn has said this is a 'broken system'

And she instead accused the Labour party of being a party that "will always put politics before people."

She also failed to make guarantees to apprentices whose training now hangs in the balance.

Labour's Catherine McKinnell asked the prime minister to promise that those people could finish their training.


But Theresa May emphasised that the Tories are not managing the failed company.

She said: "The government is aware of the issues around apprentices. The minister responsible will be looking at what can be done."

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is attempting to contact 1,300 Carillion apprentices to secure face-to-face meetings about their future.

A spokesman said "numerous employers" had been in touch offering support, adding: "We are looking to redeploy all those apprentices. How long that takes we don't know."

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is attempting to contact 1,300 Carillion apprentices to secure face-to-face meetings about their future.

A spokesman said "numerous employers" had been in touch offering support, adding: "We are looking to redeploy all those apprentices. How long that takes we don't know."

Carillion has been accused of "rewarding failure" and "highly inappropriate" behaviour after it emerged a fatcat boss is trousering £660,000 - for a year after he quit.

Richard Howson's generous package emerged after the construction giant, which employs 20,000 UK staff, plunged into liquidation over financial woes this morning.

The former chief executive stepped down from Carillion's board last July and left in November after the firm made its first profit warning, sending share prices tumbling.