BERNARD Jenkin MP says he is fighting in the corner of Carillion's 20,000 UK workers who face losing their jobs now the company has gone into liquidation.

The Harwich and north Essex MP, who is also chairman of the Public Administration Committee, will today quiz members of Government called before the committee to establish what workers would be guaranteed moving forward.

Mr Jenkin wants their jobs to be transferred to new employers but acknowledges it is too soon for such promises to be made.

He said: “How did the Government get itself so exposed to a very large company which has failed?

“Let's face it, public contracts have failed before and things go wrong in the public sector.

"How shall the Government assess how well contracting companies are run and whether they are being run in the public interest?

"But also how do you assess the good governance of a company?"

Single companies being given a significant and risky amount of public contracts must be revisited, Mr Jenkin argued.

He also said north Essex appears not to be particularly exposed to Carillion’s collapse.

He added: “This episode shakes public confidence in private companies being able to deliver public services so my committee is determined lessons shall be learnt from this to better the delivery of public services in the future."

Britain’s second biggest construction firm is understood to have public sector or public/private partnership contracts worth £1.7 billion, including providing school dinners, cleaning and catering at NHS hospitals, construction work on rail projects and maintaining 50,000 Army base homes for the Ministry of Defence.

A spokesperson for the MoD, with regards to Colchester Garrison, said the announcement has "no direct impact on defence or the services provided to the Armed Forces and their families".

He added: "Housing will continue to be serviced, catering facilities provided and buildings and offices cleaned."

Essex County Council, responsible for education, highways and health and social care, assured residents the authority has "no major exposure" to the company, alongside Colchester Council, which added “either financially or contractually”.

Colchester General Hospital Trust has no contracts with Carillion.

Both Essex University and the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) told the Gazette they will not be affected while Network Rail said it is now "activating its contingency plans".

Some politicians are also warning the announcement could have a knock-on effect for Essex police as a result of Carillion's contract to run Chelmsford Prison.

Essex Euro MP Alex Mayer said: “Carillion has been on the rocks for months but the Government has buried its head in the sand.

“Jobs, vital infrastructure projects and public services are now at risk.

“We need urgent assurances that this collapse will not hit our prison service.

“Sooner or later the Government must call time on the repeated failures of the private sector.”