26 January 2023 , 18:50
635
0
An astonishing £14.9billion has been spent on personal protective equipment, Covid tests and medicines that will not be used, it has been revealed.
Labour’s Wes Streeting said it was "staggering" the taxpayers’ money had been "wasted on useless" PPE.
The Department of Health and Social Care reported a £2.5 billion write-down on items originally costing £11.2 billion.
The department had already purchased the goods - including PPE, lateral flow and PCR testing kits, along with Covid vaccines and medicines - but no longer expects to use them, or the market price is now lower than that paid.
A further £3.5 billion was a write-down on PPE, vaccines and medication which the DHSC has "committed to purchase, but no longer expects to use".
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
Mr Streeting said: "The Conservatives can never again claim to be the careful stewards of the public finances," he said.
Labour's Wes Streeting accused the Tories of a 'staggering' waste of money (PA)"While Rishi Sunak had control of the purse strings, a staggering £15 billion of public money was wasted on useless PPE - enough to fund the police force for an entire year.
"Instead, that money is now literally going up in smoke.
"Taxpayers will rightly judge the carelessness with which the Conservatives treat their money to be an absolute scandal."
A Government spokeswoman said: "It is misleading to say that £14.9bn of taxpayers' money has been wasted.
"In the face of an unprecedented pandemic, we had to compete in an overheated global market to procure items to protect the public, frontline health and care workers and our NHS.
"Buying vital Covid vaccines and medicines also helped save countless lives and keep NHS and care staff safe.
"Our approach meant that we were the first country in the world to deploy an approved Covid vaccine, with 144 million doses administered, and we have delivered over 25 billion items of PPE to the frontline."
* Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook.