Vegan ice cream in Uruguay, hampers from Fortnum and Mason and aqua tots swimming lessons in Panama: How the Government wasted £14billion of YOUR money (that’s enough to pay for all of Jeremy Hunt’s new windfall taxes)
- Government spent £14 billion on projects including vegan ice cream last year
- The extraordinary display of financial frivolity comes amid cost-of-living burden
- £4billion wasted on PPE, with £2.6billion was unsuitable and £670million faulty
The Government wasted £14 billion of taxpayers’ money on badly managed projects and luxury items including vegan ice cream in the past year, an investigation has found.
The extraordinary display of financial frivolity comes amid cost-of-living pressures on millions of families.
The wastage included an eye-watering £4billion spent on PPE – personal protective equipment – of which £2.6billion was unsuitable, £670million defective, and deemed £750million surplus to requirements.
Another £436 million was used to pay fines for leaving huge piles of PPE in storage, which £35 million was spent on destroying items discovered to be unsuitable for use.
Elsewhere public money was lavished on trips to theme parks and on food from high-end retailers.
Some £3,376 of taxpayers’ cash was used to pay for ‘Aqua-Tots’ swimming lessons in Panama, the infamous central American tax haven
Expenses included £837 spent on vegan ice cream in Uruguay
Nearly £11,000 was spent on food and hampers from up-market Fortnum and Mason
The analysis by the Daily Telegraph took account of figures in departmental accounts and expenses, statements in Parliament, and reports by the public accounts committee and the National Audit Office published in the last year.
In some cases, the spending has gone on for years but was only recently identified as waste.
Other money was pumped into costly projects which were delayed.
In total, the amount wasted is equivalent to the estimated £14 billion Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said would be generated by two windfall taxes on the energy sector as he announced his autumn statement yesterday (THURS).
Expenses included £837 spent on vegan ice cream in Uruguay, and nearly £11,000 worth of food and hampers from up-market Fortnum and Mason.
Some £3,376 of taxpayers’ cash was used to pay for ‘Aqua-Tots’ swimming lessons in Panama, the infamous central American tax haven.
Elsewhere, £98 million was spent on an electronic tagging progamme that was written off after part of the idea was ditched.
Former Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg called the waste ‘shameful’.
He told the Telegraph: ‘You cannot reasonably ask taxpayers for money you then waste… you need to set your budgets on the basis money will be spent efficiently, and therefore you need to raise a lower level of taxation.’
A government spokesperson said: ‘This government is committed to delivering the best value for money, cutting waste and inefficiency and ensuring every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent in the best possible way. That includes selling under-used government buildings, digitising public services, harnessing innovation, and cracking down on fraud.
‘We have also made major improvements to the way we deliver major projects, and are working to recover fraudulent or payments made in error – we have already recovered over £1 billion and are significantly reducing PPE storage costs.’