Categories: NewsPolitics

Labour calculate Grayling has cost the taxpayer and economy £2.7 billion

New analysis by the Labour Party has revealed Chris Grayling has cost the taxpayer and economy £2.7 billion during his time as a minister.

Following news that the government will shell out up to £33 million to Eurotunnel in the wake of the Brexit ferry fiasco Labour has outlined the other “political gaffs” that have left the country significantly out of pocket.

A press release sent out this afternoon details more than ten blunders which have cost the country heavily.

The full list in full is below:

  • £33 million to Eurotunnel to settle a lawsuit over extra ferry services in the event of no-deal Brexit
  • £800,000 on consultants’ fees assessing the bid of a company with no ships that was temporarily awarded a Brexit-related ferry contract
  • £50 million – £70 million due to drone scare at Gatwick airport following delays to bringing forward legislation
  • £38 million was the cost to the economy in the north of England due to the rail chaos in July 2018
  • £2 billion cost to taxpayers on the collapse of Virgin Trains east coast franchise
  • £72,000 was blown on defending book ban for prisoners
  • £15 million a year in additional costs to the Carillion contract to run facilities management in prisons
  • £467 million in additional projected payments to CRCs
  • £32 million of charges that were unlawfully collected which the government were ordered to pay back
  • £23 million contract to develop a new generation of GPS tracking tags for dangerous offenders was written off because the project had proved “too challenging”
  • £60 million over the £130 million original budget relating to the wider electronic tagging programme has been described by the PAC as “fundamentally flawed” and a “catastrophic waste of public money”.
  • £1.9 million paid back to benefit claimants.
Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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