Peter Lazenby
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PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak oversaw the waste of almost £30 billion in taxpayers’ cash when he was chancellor between 2019 and 2022, Labour has said.
Wasted cash, including the £271 million paid for storing unusable Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and £10,685 a day asking “consultants” how to deal with small boats crossing the Channel, are among a dossier containing 100 examples of financial folly overseen by Mr Sunak as chancellor.
The economic ineptitude left taxpayers £26.8bn out of pocket, the Labour research finds.
The amount wasted by the Department for Health and Social Care on PPE alone came to £7.94bn, half of it down to overspending and one-third caused by buying equipment which could not be used.
And huge sums have been lost through poor procurement in the Ministry of Defence, including more than £1bn wasted on upgrading the Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines.
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “The British people deserve a government that will treat taxpayer money with respect.
“What all these 100 examples have in common is that... the man whose job it was for three years to scrutinise this spending never lifted a finger to stop the money being thrown away, and in many cases ignored direct warnings of the risks.
“Over those three years, billions of pounds that could have transformed Britain were instead handed over to fraudsters and crony contractors.
“This dossier is a badge of shame for the Prime Minister and his failing Tory government.
“Labour will treat every pound of taxpayer money with the respect it deserves.”
The government was invited to comment.
