5 d. ago Assisted dying bill debate could cost taxpayers almost £2 million

Campaigners say if the debate results in a “safe, compassionate choice at the end of life” then it will be “worth every penny”

Economics

7 d. ago ‘Catastrophic’ MoJ leasing of jail with toxic gas set to cost more than £100m

MPs criticise 10-year deal struck in ‘blind panic’ to rent Dartmoor prison, where high levels of radon had been detectedA “catastrophic” decision by the Ministry of Justice to sign a 10-year lease on a prison where high levels of a poisonous gas had been detected is expected to cost the UK taxpayer more than £100m, parliament’s spending watchdog has concluded.The public accounts committee said the 2022 deal to rent HMP Dartmoor from the Duchy of Cornwall was signed “in a blind panic” by senior civil servants looking to guarantee prison places. Continue reading...

Economics

8 d. ago Taxpayers miss out on millions after ‘phoenixism’ at UK recruitment firms

Practice where companies are liquidated and reacquired, free of debts, thought to cost taxpayers about £800m a yearInsolvent recruitment businesses shorn of their debts then reacquired from administration by the directors or shareholders that presided over their demise are costing the exchequer tens of millions of pounds in lost taxes, a Guardian analysis suggests.The practice of “phoenixism” – the art of liquidating a company and allowing the directors to rise from the ashes with a new entity, free of debts – is estimated by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to have cost taxpayers about £800m a year. Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago North Lanarkshire Council defends itself over millions paid out to high

The annual accounts of the 32 local authorities showcase the huge cost of the high-value payoffs, with taxpayers being charged for this.

Politics

3 w. ago MPs warn that UK agreements with Donald Trump are ‘built on sand’

Exclusive: UK government’s ‘naive belief’ that Trump is a good faith actor ‘could cost UK taxpayer billions’, says health select committee chair Ministers and senior MPs have warned that the UK’s agreements with Donald Trump are “built on sand” after the Guardian established that the deal to avoid drug tariffs has no underlying text beyond limited headline terms.The “milestone” US-UK deal announced this month on pharmaceuticals, which will mean the NHS pays more for medicines in exchange for a promise of zero tariffs on the industry, still lacks a legal footing beyond top lines contained in two government press releases. Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Asylum seekers likely to cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds over their lifetimes, says official report

A official new report by the Migration Advisory Committee said people entering Britain through asylum and refugee routes make an 'unambiguously negative' contribution to public funds.

Economics

4 w. ago Trip by 'Never Here Keir' Starmer to see Lionesses play in Euros final in Switzerland cost taxpayers £60,000, new figures show

The Prime Minister was accompanied by his wife Lady Starmer as well as 10 officials from Downing Street on the jaunt to the UEFA European Women's Championship final.

Economics