Our cash gone without a trace

■ So Dido Harding finally came out of hiding to defend NHS Test and Trace. The Public Accounts Committee said there was no proof of its effectiveness despite its “unimaginable” £37billion cost to the British taxpayer, while MPs have questioned the £1,000-a-day spent on consultants.

Where has all that money gone? Certainly not to our nurses or our hard-pressed local authorities that are facing more cuts. But what do we expect from this shower supposedly running the country?

It’s complete incompetence from top to bottom. If a local council acted in this manner they would be drummed out of office in double quick time. But bumbling Boris will take the credit for the success of the vaccination programme and everyone will vote Tory and forget the 125,000-plus people who have lost their lives.

Keith Bowman Chesterfield, Derbys

■ It’s an absolute disgrace that Test and Trace has failed twice despite the £37billion cost to taxpayers. Ministers said the scheme, headed by Tory pal Dido Harding, would prevent a second lockdown which, as we all know, didn’t happen. Nor did it prevent a third.

The Government is borrowing billions upon billions, which will have to be paid back at some point, no doubt off the backs of those who can least afford it.

The Tories’ handling of the pandemic has been a disgrace but I am sure Boris will take credit for the success of the vaccine roll out.

Dave Mellor, Warrington, Cheshire

■ The Tories have squandered £37billion on the Test and Trace system that doesn’t work, while in the first six months of the pandemic they awarded billions to firms with little experience or capacity to produce PPE but with strong ties to their party.

Boris Johnson has announced a £16.5billion increase to the military budget while the Government has paid £340,000 to ex-senior civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam who accused his boss Priti Patel of bullying. Yet they say they can only give NHS workers a 1% pay rise. Sasha Simic, North London

■ If the Prime Minister is serious about this being the last lockdown then the failed Test and Trace system must be bought under public control by local health authorities and out of incompetent hands of private firms like Serco. Phil Brand, South West London

■ Our NHS heroes are offered a paltry 1% when they are battling Covid, some paying the ultimate price. Ministers say it’s all we can afford but how can they justify earmarking £20billion for a bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland, not to mention the £37billion for Test and Trace?

Add to that the billions spent on PPE contracts handed out to firms with links to the Tory Party and you start to see why we can’t afford to pay our heroes properly.

A J Smith, March, Cambs

■ MPs are right to call the £37billion cost of Test and Trace “unimaginable”. What computer system, phone network or number of personnel could cost that much?

We could build a base on the moon for that or employ more than a million nurses. This is nothing short of ruthless profiteering from everyone else’s suffering. They shouldn’t get another penny. John Irving, Leeds

■ Please keep on highlighting Boris’s lack of management and cronyism. Anyone who studied his performance as London Mayor knew he was unfit for public office.

We need to send the Tories a clear message at the local elections. Alastair McKinght Chipping Norton, Oxon