Now Jarvis goes under

IF PROOF were needed of Alistair Darling's declaration in this week's Budget speech that the recovery is only in its earliest stages, it came in the news that Jarvis, once Britain's largest construction company, has gone into administration.

Nor will the irony be lost on Mr Darling that it has been cuts in the Government's own spending that has led to the financial crisis claiming one of its biggest names yet. For the straw that finally broke the back of this long-suffering camel was the decision by Network Rail to defer work on track renewal.

Jarvis's troubles, which began when seven people died when a train derailed after a set of points broke at Potters Bar in 2002,

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intensified when cash flow dried up after the company bid for so many Government private-finance contracts that it could not handle them all.

Although it was rescued from near bankruptcy, the firm continued to struggle and the current spending slowdown appears to have been more than Jarvis – or, rather, its bankers – could cope with.

However, if the story of Jarvis's decline and fall contains object lessons in how not to become overly reliant on public-sector largesse, this will be of cold comfort to the company's employees, spread across the Yorkshire region and now desperately unsure of their own futures.

It is therefore incumbent on those involved to try to safeguard the livelihoods of workers whose company has collapsed through no fault of their own. Should it prove impossible to rescue Jarvis, or to sell off its assets as going concerns, then it will once again be up to agencies such as Yorkshire Forward to come to the rescue.

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In another illustration of its value, the regional development agency has been performing sterling work in helping redundant workers to find new jobs, or undergo retraining. It is only to be regretted that its services in this area continue to be needed.