by Derek Kotz
Industrial reporter

UNIONS have welcomed moves to ban the “bandit capitalists” at the helm of Carillion on the third anniversary of the outsourcing giant’s collapse.

The company’s failure in 2018 with £7 billion in liabilities cost the taxpayer an estimated £150 million and more than 3,000 jobs, jeopardising hundreds of public-sector projects across the country.

A legal move to bar eight former Carillion directors was launched on Tuesday through the Insolvency Service by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, and could see them barred from directorships or senior management posts for between two and 15 years.

RMT called for lifetime bans for the eight, who include former chairman Philip Green — once a government adviser on corporate responsibility -— and former chief executive Richard Howson.