The immediate future of thousands of jobs have been protected after the majority of Carillion’s private sector customers agreed to keep paying for services while the construction giant is liquidated.

In a major development, more than 90 per cent of companies that employed Carillion’s services have asked for them to continue in the interim.

It means the future of around 8,500 jobs will be protected – in the short term, at least – as the administration of Carillion is carried out.

Jobs at risk

Staff had feared they would face the sack today after the Government announced it would not step in and pay their wages.

But around 10 per cent of firms said they told the official receiver they would not continue to pay for their services, leaving Carillion staff at risk of job losses.

Tens of thousands of workers at sub-contractors of Carillion still face uncertain futures, however, with many firms stating they had been forced to lay off staff as a result of the collapse.

In a statement, the Insolvency Service said it was “very pleased with the level of support shown by Carillion’s private sector service customers”.

The news came shortly after Jeremy Corbyn demanded Theresa May ended the “costly racket” of private companies running public services.

Shown the door

The Labour leader said the “ruins” of the collapsed construction giant lie around the Prime Minister and he called for private firms to be “shown the door”.

“This isn’t one isolated case of Government negligence and corporate failure – it’s a broken system,” Mr Corbyn said.

Virgin and Stagecoach had been allowed to “spectacularly mismanage” the East Coast Main Line and be let off a £2 billion payment, he added.

Elsewhere, Capita and Atos had “wrecked the lives” of people through damaging disability assessments, while G4S had failed to provide security at the Olympics leaving the Army to step in.

“These corporations need to be shown the door – we need our public services provided by public employees with a public service ethos and a strong public oversight,” he warned.

The exchange came after it emerged another major construction and financial services company, Interserve, was being closely monitored by Whitehall due to earlier profit warnings and a plunge in its share price yesterday.

Mrs May highlighted Labour’s involvement with Carillion during the party’s time in power, before outlining the Government’s plan for public services.

Services will continue

She added: “We’re making sure in this case that public services continue to be provided, that workers in those public services are supported and taxpayers are protected.

“But what Labour oppose isn’t just a role for private companies in public services – it’s the private sector as a whole.”

Mrs May said the vast majority of workers in the country are employed in the private sector but claimed Labour has “turned its back on investment, on growth and on jobs”.