The Welsh Labour government has released new procurement card spend data for 2022-2023. Apart from the total cash spent almost doubling from £800,000 to £1,500,000, the taxpayer might want to see exactly what crucial devolved government work they are financing. Here are the highlights:
- A month after spending £8,000 at luxury Manahattan restaurant Zou Zou’s, officials picked up another £16,000 tab a week later.
- £588 on party equipment from a website selling fussball and arcade machines.
- £5,158 at Soho House West Hollywood. A members’ club in Los Angeles…
- £455 on booze/perfume/cosmetics from a Dubai-based “diplomatic supply company.” Smell good, govern good…
- A couple of Gopros for £700 each.
- £207 bill from a website which sells wool and luxury whiskey.
- £2,702 to “Diversity Travel Ltd,” a travel management company specialising in “diversity study trips for personal development.” A spa day, but with rainbows?
Welsh officials have been keeping themselves well fed and watered on the taxpayer’s dime. Labour made a massive deal last year of government procurement card spending – they even rebranded their Twitter to attack the Tories for spending cash on cocktail parties for diplomats and so on. Funny they don’t seem too keen to mention it any more…
UPDATE: Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies says:
“The Labour Welsh Government are literally dining out on the backs of taxpayers as ministers complain of tight financial constraints and NHS waiting lists balloon for six consecutive record-breaking months. You couldn’t make this up.”
While Labour Cabinet Ministers talk the talk on cutting costs in the Civil Service, departments have been keeping on with their usual lavish spending habits. It’s sofa, so good for wasting taxpayer cash…
Guido can reveal that HMRC has spent £513,092 on furniture and redecoration just in the period from 5th July to 20th August. An astonishing spend of £11,154.00 every single day on desks and sofas since Labour came in…
The tax agency has spent £402,737 on furniture and £110,355 on redecoration which it says includes painting, carpets, and so on. It explains the spend: “We are committed to providing a working environment that promotes staff productivity.” Laying off that diversity team might be a better idea…
Scottish Labour have learned from their colleagues down South and published research on a staggering £14 million in Scottish government procurement spending. Although, judging by how well it went for Labour in Westminster, the strategy isn’t without its risks – some extraordinary examples of exuberant spending have been exposed. These include a staggering £10,000 on VIP travel services for Nicola Sturgeon and over £4,000 at the five-star Gleneagles Hotel.
The waste didn’t end there. Amongst the other purchases were:
- Yoga classes
- Nail polish
- A driving theory test
- A £272 pair of wellies
- China crockery
- A £27 “home disco”
- Six copies of a book containing speeches by Nicola Sturgeon
The Scottish civil service did make one much-needed purchase earning Guido’s approval. 21 Copies of a book titled ‘How To Run A Government So That Citizens Benefit And Taxpayers Don’t Go Crazy’.
According to an FOI request, the Welsh Government has spent £440,082 of taxpayer cash on insects as an alternative food source. Of this, £349,960 was awarded in January 2018 to fund insect-based food for children. The “alternative protein”, called VeXo, was offered to children aged 5-11. It is said to look like mince and contains a combination of insect and plant-based proteins.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Education, Laura Anne Jones, was bugged by the revelation. She said:
“To learn that Labour have wasted more than £400,000 in providing bugs as an alternative food source is very concerning, Labour need to properly fund their free school meals and not waste money on dystopian futuristic meals for our children… Along with cutting the education budget in real terms this year, Labour instead prioritise this bizarre pet project. Children need nutritious affordable meals, preferably locally sourced, to sustain them through the school days and expensive bug farming is not the answer.”
If, for whatever reason, Welsh school children don’t enjoy their cockroach cuisine, Guido’s sure Matt Hancock would be happy to take it off their hands…
During his time as Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer spent a quarter of a million pounds on luxury travel expenses. Documents published by Declassified UK reveal the extent of Starmer’s first and business class foreign travel – he jetted off to locations as far afield as Jamaica, Washington and Bangkok. His flight to Hong Kong alone set the taxpayer back £4,914…
Much of Keir’s travel bill came from his chauffeur driven motor, which cost over £161,273, used for his London commute from leafy Kentish Town to Central London – a mere four-mile trip. First class flying and emission-intensive commuting is hardly going to help us achieve Starmer’s vision for a “stronger green and digital future, by 2030”.
To put the Labour leader’s exuberance into context, his successor Alison Saunders, who served the same five-year term, expensed £67,340 on travel. Sir Keir spent over three times as much…
Read the full dossier of expenses below:
Just when you thought the government’s record on recovering taxpayer cash lost to covid fraud couldn’t get much worse, the National Audit Office has revealed that they’ve recovered just £11.4 million of the £1.1 billion in covid business grant fraud. That’s a meagre 1%.
The government had previously said they hoped to recoup a quarter of the overall figure of lost cash – the new figures show they’re falling well below that on business grant fraud. Rishi also pledged the government would do “everything we can” to go after fraudsters. Clearly that isn’t enough…
A Business and Trade spokesperson said:
“This report confirms that our COVID-19 business grant schemes helped to secure millions of businesses and livelihoods through the pandemic – supporting jobs and the economy during unprecedented times. No amount of error and fraud is acceptable, and we are continuing to work hard to recover these funds where possible.”
This is the same line we’ve been hearing for a year now, including during Rishi’s leadership campaign. Clearly it isn’t happening. The report also points out there’s “little incentive” for councils to go after fraudsters either, because “all recovered monies must be paid back to central government.” Lost to the sands of time…
