Stephen Colegrave tries to estimate how many billions the Prime Minister and his Government have wasted in their first year in power
Since he became Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has spent a lot of money.
COVID-19 has led to expenditure and borrowing on an unprecedented scale, but much of this spend has been – to use his words – spaffed up against the wall.
Here is a summary of just how much taxpayers’ money he has wasted or committed to be wasted, including a running total in red.
1. ADVERTISING & COMMUNICATIONS
‘Get Ready for Brexit’ Campaign
This campaign started ahead of the 2019 General Election, when Johnson blurred the lines between Government information communication and political advertising with his £100 million ‘Get Ready For Brexit’ advertising.
The adverts pushed a pro-Brexit message and was a waste of money, according to the National Audit Office. In a report into the campaigning, the independent watchdog found that it had “limited impact” because it was attempting to deal with issues that were not “manageable and resolvable”.
The campaign was pulled early, at the end of October 2019, but an estimated £75 million had already been spent on it.
£75 million
COVID-19 Advertising Subsidy for Newspapers
Johnson needed to keep the newspapers – which had suffered a substantial loss in profits – on side during the Coronavirus lockdown and so gifted them £35 million in COVID-19 advertising and advertorials. Even the Guardian took the questionable cash.
Compliant newspapers studiously ignoring his initial ‘herd immunity strategy’ and shocking mishandling of social distancing was of note. But, finally, Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Public Health England’s inability to provide personal protective equipment for the NHS was too much even for the most mainstream press to sideline.
£110 million
Topham Guerin’s COVID-19 Digital Campaign
The Government awarded £3 million to a small consultancy run by two New Zealanders that have a background in right-wing political campaigns, Sean Topham and Ben Guerin to deliver digital content around the Coronavirus.
£113 million
2. ANTIBODY TESTING
Faulty Tests
As part of his headline-grabbing claims for testing, Matt Hancock rushed to buy £16 million worth of antibody tests from China that proved to be faulty.
£129 million
Unnecessary Tests
After the debacle of the faulty tests, the Government ordered 10 million tests from Roche and Abbott. Costs were not disclosed, but the British Medical Journal (BMJ) reported that “there is evidence to indicate the NHS will spend £79 per test”.
These tests are likely to be a waste of money as there is little evidence about how long immunity lasts for those who have had the Coronavirus.
The BMJ cited a reader in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Bath who said that the tests were a waste of money because “they are much more accurate if used 14 days after symptoms arise, but currently people with symptoms are told to self-isolate for 14 days anyway, making taking a test moot”.
£919 million
3. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE)
Procurement
On 8 July, the Treasury revealed that the Government had spent £15 billion on PPE – a huge amount for a bungled operation that led to the UK having more health and care worker deaths than anywhere else in Europe, according to Amnesty and Medscape.
Many companies with proven track records offered to make or obtain PPE, but most were rejected or ignored by Public Health England (PHE) and the Government. Instead, rules for emergency procurement were used to commission many other companies that had no experience and little or no trading history. These included: Luxe Lifestyle Ltd, which was awarded a £25 million contract with no employees or experience; Aventis Solutions Ltd, a recruitment company given £18.48 million with only net assets of £322; PestFix Ltd, with assets of just £18,000 awarded a contract for more than £108 million; and Excalibar Ltd, which was only incorporated as a company in January 2020.
This led to significant costs, according to procurement expert Bernedette Spofforth. Writing in Byline Times on PPE procurement, she observed that “PHE agreed to set prices at the height of demand for products” – which meant that it would have been paying up to 70c for a simple surgical mask even four weeks later when the prices had dropped to 15c.
Therefore, a conservative estimate is that at least half of the £15 billion spent on PPE has been wasted and probably much more.
£8.419 billion
4. TEST & TRACE
The Failed App
The Government and NHSX – a unit formed from the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to “drive the digital transformation of care” – were determined to create a tracing app for the Coronavirus that held data centrally, unlike other countries.
This was part of the Boris Johnson administration’s ‘world beating’ test and trace programme. However, after a trial in the Isle of Wight, it announced that it would instead be using the Apple and Google app that many other countries had already adopted. Matt Hancock said that the Government’s app was now viewed only as “the cherry on the cake” of a test and trace system. It wasted £11.8 million in the process.
£8.431 billion
The Ineffective Programme
Taxpayers have had to pay £10 billion so far for a test and trace system that is still not working effectively.
In areas of northern England – where infection rates have been a concern – a leaked