MPs have warned the Government against using local government contractors Atkins and Balfour Beatty again, after the ‘spectacular failure' of Metronet.

The House of Commons' transport committee published a report into Tube contractors, which warned the Government against going into another public-private partnership on this scale.

The committee said the Government and London Underground should not have allowed Metronet to guarantee the lion's share of the work to its parent companies, which included Atkins and Balfour Beatty.

It also warned the Government to bear in mind what happened with Metronet when its parent companies next bid for publicly-funded work.

‘If the Government is ever again tempted by a seemingly-good deal from the private sector, it should recall Metronet's pathetic underdelivery and the deficiencies in the contracts which allowed it to happen,' said committee chairman, Gwyneth Dunwoody.

‘Any reasonable person, looking at the current situation, would find scant evidence to sustain a dogma that the private sector will always deliver greater efficiency, innovation and value for many than the public sector.'

Read the Transport Committee's report here.