The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 14 April 2021.
Boris Johnson’s MPs have voted to cover up cronyism.
It’s the return of Tory sleaze: one rule for them, another for everybody else.
Labour will keep standing up for the British people so we can end this culture of Conservative cronyism.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 12 April 2021.
This has all the hallmarks of another cover-up by the Conservatives.
Just as with the inquiry into Priti Patel’s alleged bullying, this is another Conservative Government attempt to push bad behaviour into the long grass and hope the British public forgets. The Conservatives can’t be trusted to yet again mark their own homework.
We need answers on Greensill now – that means key players in this cronyism scandal like David Cameron, Rishi Sunak and Matt Hancock appearing openly in front of Parliament as soon as possible to answer questions.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 3 April 2021.
The allegation that billions of pounds of taxpayer and NHS cash was put at the mercy of Lex Greensill without so much as a contract signed is shocking, and Conservative cronyism down to a tee.
We need Cameron to come out of hiding and apologise, but we also need answers.
The Conservatives must make it clear how – after 10-years of weakening the bodies meant to investigate cronyism and corruption – they are going to tackle this growing problem.
With thousands of British jobs on the line after the collapse of Greensill, they must stop ignoring scandals piling up on their watch and take action to clean up the waste and cronyism becoming their hallmark.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 15 March 2021.
This underlines the absolutely crucial need for this government to be far more transparent and honest, something Labour has consistently called for.
Open and accountable governments make better governments, but Johnson’s administration has not only acted unlawfully in this regard, but also seems willing too often to bend the truth.
With growing stories of taxpayer waste and cronyism, they should take the lessons from today’s report and immediately ramp up transparency to reassure the British people that they are using their money responsibly in the fight against Covid.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 12 March 2021.
These figures make it clear just how many British businesses have been struggling with the new reams of costly red tape and bureaucracy this Government has wrapped them in.
Businesses have been appealing to the government to start listening to the problems they’ve been facing, but they’ve been left out in the cold.
The Government must up their ambition here, and take practical action, hand in hand with businesses, to build on the limited deal they negotiated with the EU.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 10 March 2021.
This report reveals how this Government’s outsourced, Serco-led Test and Trace system failed the British people and led our country into restrictive lockdown after lockdown.
It underlines the epic amounts of waste and incompetence, an overreliance on management consultants, taxpayers’ cash splashed on crony contracts, all while ministers insist our NHS heroes deserve nothing more than a clap and a pay cut.
The Conservatives’ wasteful obsession with outsourcing must end and contact tracing should be run by our public health teams.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 5 March 2021.
It is deeply concerning how much the Government has relied on crony contracts throughout the pandemic, while leaving our frontline workers exposed.
First the Government acted unlawfully, then the Prime Minister falsely claimed everything had been published.
It is a basic right for the public to know where and how our cash is being spent. The Government needs to come out of hiding, simply publish the contracts it has sitting around and support our frontline staff with PPE not pay cuts.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 22 February 2021.
This is extremely worrying and the reasons for handing this contract out in the first place must be investigated and shared in the public interest.
The Government needs to get a grip on the cronyism and waste marring its pandemic procurement. It must be far more transparent and publish outstanding contracts and details of the VIP fast lane now.
The letter written by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 21 February 2021.
Dear Secretary of State,
I am writing today following the judicial review ruling yesterday by the High Court that the “Secretary of State for Health and Social Care acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy” and that “there is now no dispute that, in a substantial number of cases, the Secretary of State breached his legal obligation to publish Contract Award Notices within 30 days of the award of contracts.”
In handing down the judgment, the Judge also said: “The Secretary of State spent vast quantities of public money on pandemic-related procurements during 2020. The public were entitled to see who this money was going to, what it was being spent on and how the relevant contracts were awarded.”
The Judge went on to say that if Government had complied with its legal obligations, there would have been the ability “to scrutinise CANs and contract provisions, ask questions about them and raise any issues with oversight bodies such as the NAO or via MPs in Parliament.”
Given this clear legal ruling, and recent serious stories of cronyism and waste at the heart of this Government’s pandemic procurement, I am writing to you today to ask you six questions which I hope you will urgently answer:
I know you will appreciate how important it is that taxpayers know how their money is being spent through these contracts, that the government wants to tackle claims of cronyism and that, given this ruling of unlawfulness, that the government and yourself will do everything possible to maximise transparency, accountability and scrutiny.
Many thanks,
Rachel Reeves MP
Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on 19 February 2021.
This Tory government’s obsession with outsourcing and repeated conflict of interests has marred its pandemic response.
There has got be urgent reassurance that there are no conflicts of interest here – and that the public and those workers trying hard to make the hotel quarantine work don’t pay the price for this government’s last minute, shambolic planning.