Rachel Reeves has confirmed she will appoint a Covid corruption commissioner within weeks in a bid to recoup billions lost to Covid contract fraud.
The chancellor wasted no time in making good on a manifesto commitment to get back £2.6 billion lost to waste, fraud and flawed contracts signed during the pandemic.
The process to recruit a Covid corruption tsar will begin this week, working with the Department of Health and Social Care, but is expected to deliver a report to Reeves so that government lawyers can begin to pursue the funds.
The commissioner will work with HMRC, the Serious Fraud Office and the National Crime Agency to examine an estimated £7.6 billion worth of Covid-related fraud.
This includes business loans and grants, incorrectly claimed furlough and abuse of Rishi Sunak’s flagship “eat out to help out” scheme.
Reeves is expected to tell parliament that the commissioner will “get back what is owed to the British people” – saying the money has been “in the hands of fraudsters” when it belongs in public services.
“I will not tolerate waste. I will treat taxpayers’ money with respect and I will return stability to our public finances,” she will say.
She is also expected to point the finger for the flawed contracts directly at Sunak, particularly the billions wasted on useless personal protective equipment (PPE).
“The past government hiked taxes, while allowing waste and inefficiency to spiral out of control,” Reeves is expected to say.
“Nowhere was this more evident than during the pandemic, particularly when it came to PPE. Because the former prime minister when he was chancellor signed cheque after cheque after cheque for billions of pounds’ worth of contracts that did not deliver for the NHS when it needed it. That is unacceptable.”
Related: Labour reveals Rwanda scheme has already cost taxpayers £700 MILLION