UK gov. accused of spending over £130bln in taxpayer money

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
3 Jun 2024 12:05
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A £32,000 bill of taxpayer money is part of this amount, which was used to cover the legal costs after the science secretary wrongly accused an academic of sympathizing with the Palestinian Resistance.

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Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to journalists at Redcar racecourse as he launches the Conservative campaign bus, on Saturday, June 1, 2024, in Redcar, England. (AP)

The UK government is accused of splurging over £130 billion, including £6 billion in just the last two months, according to the HuffPost, citing the Best for Britain’s Scandalous Spending Tracker.

First reported by The Mirror, this serves as another blow for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, given that he served as chancellor between February 2020 and July 2022 and has been PM since October 2022 amid an economic crisis.

A £32,000 bill of taxpayer money is part of this amount, which was used to cover the legal costs after the science secretary, Michelle Donelan, wrongly accused an academic of sympathizing with the Palestinian Resistance.

Former Foreign Secretary Liz Truss racked up a £15,000 bill for food and alcohol on just one flight to Australia, while the government also threw a whopping £33 million just by delaying the general election by two months.

Meanwhile, Brexit checks at the end of April cost £4.7 billion.

On average, Best for Britain calculated that the Tories wasted an average of £26 billion annually since being re-elected in 2019 – 30 times the estimation of the Liberal Democrats’ proposal to increase GP appointments, which is reported to cost £800 million annually and more than the total cost of the Green Party’s plan to insulate 10 million homes, reported to cost £25 billion annually.

Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain and founder of tactical voting website, GetVoting.org, said, “Rishi Sunak has presided over years of delinquent government spending and while his reign of egregious waste may soon be over, we cannot risk the Tories getting their hands back in the public piggy bank in five years time."

“That’s why we’re asking people to vote tactically at the next election and get it right with GetVoting.org,” she noted.

This comes as Sunak officially announced ten days ago that the upcoming general election in the country is scheduled for July 4.

"Earlier today I spoke with his majesty the King to request the dissolution of parliament. The King has granted me this request and we will have a general election on 4th of July," Sunak said in a statement outside 10 Downing Street.

Sky News had reported earlier the possibility of Sunak calling for the general election to be held on July 4.

🇬🇧 BREAKING! UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Calls Surprise July 4 Election

Rishi Sunak announced that he has received King Charles III's approval to dissolve Parliament and hold early elections. pic.twitter.com/2BfEpdK3St
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) May 22, 2024

Sunak was elected by Conservative MPs as their new leader in October 2022 after Liz Truss resigned from the premiership just weeks following her election.

Under his leadership, the country has witnessed a sharp drop in inflation along with decreasing consumer prices.

Despite this, the UK is ranked as the weakest economy among Western European countries and is forecasted to remain so due to high interest rates and the lasting impacts of last year's inflation surge.