![\"Rishi](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/B997\/production\/_128611574_5a8be7810ad276acfbc7149c395fa32281b27146.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/span>EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLabour has accused the Conservative government of overseeing “lavish spending” on hotels, hospitality and other costs using taxpayer-funded debit cards.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The bills have been highlighted in a Labour study of spending on government debit cards in 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Examples of bills include \u00a33,393 on 13 fine art photographs, and \u00a323,457 on alcohol for UK embassies abroad.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Conservatives branded Labour’s analysis a “political stunt”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A Conservative Party spokesperson said Labour spent almost \u00a31bn on the cards – known as government procurement cards (GPCs) – in 2009, when the party was last in government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This spending was across the whole of the public sector, while Labour’s analysis focused on 14 government departments, so the figures are not directly comparable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “has failed to rein in the culture of lavish spending across Whitehall on his watch”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a 24-page document, titled the GPC Files, Labour included examples of government spending, including:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms Rayner said her party’s analysis showed “a scandalous catalogue of waste, with taxpayers’ money frittered away across every part of government”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A Labour government would “get tough on waste, with an Office of Value for Money upholding transparency and high standards for all public spending, including on government procurement cards”, she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Conservatives cut the number of cards in use and introduced a requirement for spending to be publicly declared, a government spokesman said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The Cabinet Office said the cards can save time and money when used for one-off purchases and are considered to be an efficient way of paying for goods and services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Transport minister Richard Holden said Labour had “wasted” civil servants time and “half-a-million pounds” uncovering the information was already publicly available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “All of this data is publicly available online, it has been since 2012 – something which didn’t happen under the last Labour government,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “We publish it on a monthly basis.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The cards were introduced by the government of former Labour prime minister Tony Blair in 1997 as a more convenient way to make low-value purchases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They were made available to all public sector organisations, including central government departments, local authorities and the NHS.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The use of the cards has come under increased public and political scrutiny following a major scandal over expenses claims made by MPs in 2009.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a report on GPCs in 2012, the National Audit Office said “there has been a lack of central oversight and control of the card, which has increased risks to value for money”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In its study of the cards, Labour analysed spending data for every major government department in 2021, apart from the Ministry of Defence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The party obtained some of the data in statements written by ministers in response to parliamentary questions asked by Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The 14 government departments – including the Treasury and Home Office – spent about \u00a3145.5m using GPCs in 2021, compared to \u00a384.9m spent by the equivalent departments in 2010-11, according to Labour’s analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n However, the analysis does not take into account inflation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Labour have published a full analysis of the government’s use of GPCs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Civil servants set to strike on Budget day<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Billions in Covid support lost to error and fraud<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Probe launched after officials’ expenses published<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n Published at Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:19:33 +0000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Labour accuse Tories of spending sprees on hotels, dining and gifts EPA Labour has accused the Conservative government of overseeing “lavish spending” on hotels, hospitality and other costs using taxpayer-funded debit cards. The bills have been highlighted in a Labour study of spending on government debit cards in 2021. Examples of bills include \u00a33,393 on… Continue reading Labour accuse Tories of spending sprees on hotels, dining and gifts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk-politics","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
‘Value for money’<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
Related Topics<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
More on this story<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
![\"PCS](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/60BD\/production\/_128556742_35e03875a0dab1f938600b77dcc452bc9a2bd509.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/div>\n\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/6C54\/production\/_128323772_gettyimages-1392727256-594x594.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/div>\n\n
![\"Government](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/319D\/production\/_126410721_gldgetty.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/div>\n