The Tory government has bungled Brexit, crashed the pound, and given wads of cash to their chums. Never Again!
Even Tories have a limit – for some, it is Sunak’s plans to pour poo into our water.
Rishi Sunak is facing a defeat in the House of Lords over his bid to scrap clean water regulations that protect swimmers and wildlife as part of his post-Brexit bonfire of European Union red tape.
Rishi Sunak facing Tory rebellion over sewage in UK rivers, iNews
According to a new report, Tory MP Robert Buckland oversaw a steady transfer of government money to BFS GROUP LTD. See the spend here. It is unclear how much of Buckland’s £46,701,496 spending lined the pocket of this unknown group.
A quick Google suggests they are a catering company or a wholesale food distributor.
It is hard to say much more as their website doesn’t work:
Wikipedia has this to say about BFS Group Limited:
Bidfood (formerly known as 3663, Bidvest 3663 and Bidvest Foodservice) is a Foodservice Wholesaler and distributor based in the United Kingdom.[1]
The BFS Group Limited was a wholly owned subsidiary of Bidvest, an international services, trading and distribution company listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa.[2] It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of BidCorp, also listed on the JSE. BidCorp, the Bid Corporation Limited, is the holding company of the Bidvest Group Limited.
Bidfood, Wikipedia
None of that explains why there are 100+ spends of over a thousand pounds each recorded for a single day – 01/01/2021.
From March 2015 to March 2022, the UK has spent £12.4m on the cancelled flights, according to publicly available Government figures. It has become one of the largest declared “fruitless spends” within government, which is how taxpayer money spent with no benefit is recorded.
UK Government spent £12m on failed deportation flights over seven years, iNews
Indulgent Tory spending of public money has been publicised in a new report.
A “lavish spending” culture in Whitehall has seen taxpayers’ money wasted on luxury items, Labour claimed after an analysis of the use of government procurement cards (GPCs).
Labour raised concern about dining and alcohol purchases, including almost £345,000 by Foreign Office (FCDO) officials in 2021 under the heading “restaurants and bars”, entertainment and evidence of end-of-year spending sprees to use up budgets.
‘Scandalous’ Tory government spending on lavish hotels, furnishings and booze revealed, The Independent
The Indie goes on to say that the Tories wrongly declared thousands of pounds worth of alcohol as “computer equipment”. Not only that but under the Tories, £344,803 was spanked on alcohol in 2021
Iain Anderson, the founder of the public relations from Cicero, said he was switching to Labour also in part because of the Conservatives’ plan to stoke a culture war against vulnerable groups.
Mr Anderson, who was named the government’s “LGBT business champion” in 2021, told the Financial Times the Tories were “not the party it used to be”, adding: “I can’t defend it.”
Leading businessman quits Tories after 40 years over anti-business approach [MSN/The Independent]
The Guardian is reporting that Labour plans to release a dossier tomorrow that will show that the Tories have been treating the public like their own personal cash machine. They have, it is reported, been living it up with luxury travel and five-star hotels.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are worrying about how we will pay for food and heating.
The new deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson, has said he would support the return of the death penalty.
In an interview with the Spectator before he was appointed to the role, he argued “nobody has ever committed a crime after being executed”.
Lee Anderson: New Tory deputy chairman would support return of death penalty, BBC News
Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of leading a party that has an “addiction to sleaze and scandal.”
The Labour leader made the comments during a heated PMQs session on Wednesday, 1 February.
He said the economy was “shrinking faster” than Mr Sunak’s leadership and the justice system lets “murderers walk the streets.”
Sir Starmer also raised questions on his handling of former Tory party chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs.
The prime minister accused Sir Starmer of taking the side of “extremist protesters and union bosses.”
Starmer says Sunak is leading a party “addicted to sleaze and scandal”, The Independent, YouTube
Up to half a million striking workers made today the biggest mass action in the UK since 2011.
With teachers joining picket lines, working parents across England, Wales and Scotland had to make alternative arrangements as many schools and colleges closed to most or all pupils.
Thousands marched in London, where the head of the TUC called on the Prime Minister to “get round the table and deliver on public sector pay”.
As well as teachers, also on strike today were around 70,000 University staff from the UCU, some 100,000 civil servants from over 120 government departments and thousands of train workers from RMT unions, as well as some London bus services.
UK strikes: half a million workers demand “fair pay”, Channel 4 News, YouTube