Government parks tanks on ROSCOs front lawn

This from Virginia Water...

According to the Pink-un yesterday:

The £1bn order for new trains for the Crossrail east-west London rail line will be among the first recipients of a government guarantee designed to revive investment in essential infrastructure, Danny Alexander will announce on Tuesday.

Your exam questions for today are therefore;

1. This guarantee is being offered to reduce the lease payments and hence long term rail subsidy bill.  On that basis, why doesn't the Treasury and DfT offer this finance to all future rolling stock deals?

2. If Treasury/DfT is guaranteeing all rolling stock, why not just RAB finance the lot?

3. What are the implications for the as yet unsigned Thameslink order? and

4. What does this mean for the future of the ROSCOs?

Privitisation is dead. Long live state intervention!

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Surely the deeply unpopular LibDems don't propose using this finance method to pay for the Thameslink fleet which will be built entirely in Germany?

Or the Crossrail fleet which will no doubt be manufactured in Japan and ahem... 'assembled' by three men and a dog at Newton Aycliffe.

Good to see taxpayers money being used to export skilled jobs overseas!