The government's long-held aim of selling £30bn of our nation's assets to the private sector has just hit another buffer: the privatisation of the Tote, the state-owned betting business, has just been pulled – again.
Back in 2004 (yes, that long ago), Gordon Brown sanctioned the sale of the pooled betting and shop business with a £2.8bn turnover.
It was at a time when the gambling sector was seeing remarkable growth buoyed by the booming internet, new fixed-odds betting terminals and the prospect of liberalisation.
Had Brown sanctioned a quick sale to the private sector, he could have scooped £500m. But the former chancellor wanted to sell the Tote to a trust formed by horse racing industry bodies.
The trust was unable to pay a market price for the business. This proved no hurdle to the Treasury. Unfortunately for the Treasury, though, this was deemed anti-competitive by Europe.
So the process collapsed, leading to Plan B: a private sector sale.
It has been a pitifully slow process. And now the sport minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, has just released a statement confirming the sale has been cancelled until market conditions improve.
What a missed opportunity to get much needed revenue into Treasury coffers.
