Still wasting our cash

COUNTLeSS Tory ministers have promised to crack down on public sector waste and mismanagement, but it is clear they are failing miserably.

In the past four days we have learned: Fraud and error in the tax credits system rose 15 per cent last year, to £1.6billion… F-35 fighters costing up to £150million each are vulnerable to hackers, cannot fly in stealth mode and are too heavy to take off vertically… hS2 could cost £104billion… Now, auditors reveal government departments are spending up to 98 per cent of their foreign aid money in the last three months of the year. Why hurl it out of the door in such a rush, an approach almost guaranteed to lead to waste? To hit the 0.7 per cent spending target, of course!

Over the summer, Philip hammond will start drawing up the Budget, with demands for cash from his cabinet colleagues ringing in his ears. Before hiking taxes or borrowing, he should confront head-on the colossal waste of taxpayers’ money by the State.