THE Government was forced to deny yesterday that it was preparing to sell public assets “on the cheap” in an attempt to convince voters it was tackling Britain’s debt mountain.

Treasury Chief Secretary Liam Byrne said ministers were not conducting a “fire sale” and that they were committed to getting the most value for taxpayers from the planned disposal of £16bn-worth of assets.

But on the day MPs returned to Westminster after the long summer break, he was forced to fend off questions from the Opposition and from angry Labour backbenchers who warned the sale would simply benefit speculators.

Earlier, Gordon Brown confirmed his intention to bring forward the planned sale of about £3bn-worth of assets including the Tote, the Student Loan Book, the Channel Tunnel rail link, the Dartford Crossing and the uranium processing company Urenco.

They are part of a wider sale of £16bn-worth of assets – including £11bn-worth of local authority assets – announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling in the Budget.

In the Commons, Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman Vince Cable said holding a “national car boot sale”

when land prices were 15 to 20 per cent of their peak was an “absolute guarantee” that the Government would not get value for money.

“The Government has a terrible record in selling Government assets,” he said.

“This announcement is driven entirely by political concerns.”

For the Tories, Shadow Treasury Chief Secretary Philip Hammond said that all the proposed sales announced by Mr Brown had been announced before.

In 2007, the Treasury had valued the Student Loan Book alone at £6bn – double what it hoped to get from all the assets it was now planning to sell.

“Selling the family silver will not solve the crisis in the public finances,” he said.

But some of the most critical comments came from Labour MPs.

Katy Clark said: “It is a bit rich that when it is the market that has got us into this situation, it is the market that is going to be able to buy our assets on the cheap.”

David Winnick said: “Can we be reasonably satisfied that at least the Palace of Westminster won’t be flogged off to some land speculator or property company in the near future?”

Mr Byrne said that the Government was looking to selloff the £3bn-worth of assets over the next two years – rather than four years as originally planned – in order to repay debt.

But he said the sales would only go ahead “where and when the market conditions are right”.