Labour calls for National Crime Agency investigation into fraud

Labour today use their opposition day debate to call the government to back a National Crime Agency investigation into the huge levels of fraud committed during the pandemic – as well as urging the government to come back by the end of March with an update on the amount of fraud clawed back.

It follows weeks of scandal surrounding the Chancellor’s handling of fraud during the pandemic, after it emerged that he has written off £4.3 billion worth of fraud, and after the Treasury’s anti-fraud Minister resigned in protest to “schoolboy errors”, saying the Treasury “appear to have no knowledge or little interest in the consequences of fraud to our economy or our society.”

With the cost of living crisis growing and a National Insurance rise down the line, the Labour Party have slammed the government for leaving working people and businesses facing an enormous tax burden when billions are lost to fraud and waste.

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP said: 

“The £4.3 billion of public funds lost to fraud and written off by the Chancellor shows how little he and his Government respect UK taxpayers.  

“His defence all along has been that there was pressure to get help to businesses. That’s no excuse for not even having minimal controls in place. And now the taxpayer is being asked to pay the bill.  

“The Chancellor must allow the National Crime Agency to investigate these astronomical levels of fraud, and come back with an update on the amount of taxpayers funds they’ve clawed back from criminals by the end of the March.” 

Ends

Notes to Editors 

Labour’s Draft Motion: 

That this House agrees with Lord Agnew that the Government’s record on tackling fraud is lamentable; recognises the vast amount of taxpayers’ money that has been lost to waste and fraud since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, including the £4.3 billion recently written off from Treasury-backed covid business support schemes; notes the Government’s unacceptable record of poor procurement over the last decade, including £13 billion wasted on defence projects; further notes the warnings the Chancellor received in 2020 regarding the serious weaknesses allowing for public funds to be diverted to criminal enterprises; calls on the Government to set out a strategy to recover all taxpayers’ money handed to criminal groups and to fully engage with a thorough National Crime Agency investigation into all issues related to the fraudulent exploitation of the Covid support schemes; and further calls for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make a statement to this House before 31 March 2022 detailing how much taxpayers’ money has been successfully retrieved.