Tories accused of lavish spending sprees, wasting thousands of pounds on alcohol, hotels and fine art using taxpayer-funded debit cards
The Conservative party have come under fire from Labour for overseeing “lavish spending” on hotels, hospitality and other costs using taxpayer-funded debit cards.
Labour has highlighted the bills after studying spending on government debit cards in 2021.
Bills include £3,393 on 13 fine art photographs, and £23, 457 on alcohol for UK embassies abroad.
The Tories branded it a “political stunt” from Labour.
A Tory party spokesperson said Labour spent almost £1bn on the cards – known as government procurement cards (GPCs) – in 2009 when Labour was last in government.
The Tory’s comment was in reference to the whole of the public sector, while Labour’s analysis focused on 14 government departments, so the figures cannot be compared.
Labour’s deputy Angela Rayner said the PM “has failed to rein in the culture of lavish spending across Whitehall on his watch.”
In Labour’s 24-page document, they included examples of government spending, including:
- The Treasury buying 13 fine art photographs from The Tate Gallery for £3,393
- £344,803 of card expenditure by Foreign Office diplomats in 2021 under the category “restaurants and bars”
- The Foreign Office spending £7,218 on a reception for Liz Truss, when she was foreign secretary
- The Ministry of Justice paying £4,019 for 850 branded USB cables for staff taking part in a virtual conference
- The Department of Health spending £59,155 on items of stationery in March 2021, compared to £1,470 in the whole of the rest of the year combined
Rayner said the analysis showed “a scandalous catalogue of waste, with taxpayers’ money frittered away across every part of government”.
