• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home Politics

Sunak splashes £500k of public cash on repairing his public image

All at a time when the chancellor has told the British people he has no money to ease the cost-of-living crisis.

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
2022-05-22 07:49
in Politics
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

The Treasury has come under fire for authorising £500,000 of taxpayer money to be spent on focus groups and polls.

Procurement documents published by the Government show consultants Deltapoll were selected to carry out the work, with an option to extend the contract for another year – taking the potential total cost to £1 million.

The contract says the researchers are expected to carry out twice-weekly focus groups and weekly online polling over a 12-month period, ending in February 2023.

They should also produce “in-depth reports” on their findings, including analysis, on a monthly basis.

“Simply staggering”

Labour said it was “simply staggering” the department had given the green light to “little more than a taxpayer-funded vanity exercise for a Chancellor desperate to repair his image”.

But a Treasury source insisted the research was policy-focused, rather than seeking feedback on Mr Sunak’s personal profile.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said: “At a time when Rishi Sunak has told the British people he has no money to ease the cost-of-living crisis, and that cutting their energy bills would be ‘silly’, it is simply staggering that he has ordered half a million more of taxpayer’s money to be spent on private focus groups and opinion polls.

“The Government apparently has half a million to spend on spin-doctors while Jacob Rees-Mogg is threatening to axe thousands of civil service jobs in the name of cost saving, throwing working people under the bus once again.

“At the start of the pandemic, the Treasury justified their spending on focus groups and polls as an emergency measure to test the impact of different policy options, but now this is little more than a taxpayer-funded vanity exercise for a Chancellor desperate to repair his image.

RelatedPosts

Distraction win for Tories as concern over immigration soars

Ann Widdecombe joins Reform UK to ‘save the Union’

Tory MP says expansion of free childcare is wrong policy

Labour calls on Tory MPs to vote against pensions tax cut

“He should not need to spend a small fortune on focus groups to hear what the British public are telling him: they want serious action to help with the cost-of-living crisis, starting with the adoption of Labour’s plan for a windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas to fund cuts in energy bills.”

Total value of £1 million

While the contract runs until February next year, the award letter states that it can be extended by a further 12 months, with a total value of £1 million.

A spokesperson for the Treasury said: “The Treasury conducts regular polling to help develop and measure the impact and understanding of its policies.

“All polling is subject to the usual tender process, ensuring the best value for taxpayers’ money.”

Last year, Boris Johnson’s Government was accused of “abusing” taxpayers’ cash after it emerged public funds were used to conduct polling on opposition politicians.

Documents released by the Good Law Project showed there were “questions asked” about Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The papers said the questions allowed the Government to assess the “credibility” of its own spokespeople against other political figures.

Related: Trooping the Colour: ‘Multiple injuries’ reported as stand COLLAPSES

Content Protection by DMCA.com
Tags: headlineRishi Sunak

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending

Elevenses: Exposing the Tories’ Deepfake Illegal Immigration Bill

Elevenses: Rishi’s Finest Hour

Elevenses: Fear and Loathing in the New Conservatives

More from TLE

Boris Johnson celebrates England goal – Twitter reacts

Biden to prioritise status of millions of immigrants as Trump officials to transfer Native American land to miners

90 Conservative MPs have second jobs – compared to 3 Labour MPs

Doctor with ‘glistening future’ jumped to his death while feeling unable to talk about his own mental health for fear of losing his job

Top 30 reasons Brits would like to live in France

Boris Johnson urges people not to ‘overdo it’ when lockdown eases

‘Vindictive:’ Fury as Rees-Mogg demands civil servants get back to the office

London’s best new restaurant openings – November 2017

Full list of MPs who abstained on vote to cancel cuts to Universal Credit

Young people told to stop partying as Bolton lockdown extended

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.