The real scandal

THE £460,000 cost of the Partygate police investigation is a waste of public money (Mail), but it’s small change compared with the government’s pandemic spending spree.

The cost of unusable PPE is estimated at £9.9 billion, enough to give every nHS nurse a 100 per cent bonus on their salary.

According to figures published by the Department of Health and Social Care, £2,581million was spent on PPE not suitable for use in the nHS, £673million on PPE not suitable for any use and £750million on buying PPE that passed its expiry date before use. This comes on top of £4.7billion spent on inflated prices for PPE that wasn’t needed.

In addition, HM revenue & Customs has reported that more than £5.5billion of Covid support funds in the 2020-21 tax year were ‘lost’ to fraud or error.

PETER RIMMER, Ormskirk, Lancs.

ARE the same people who called for a police investigation into Partygate now complaining about the cost?

CHRISTOPHER HARPER, Carlisle.