A minister has resigned at the despatch box after criticising the government’s record on tackling fraud in the coronavirus business schemes.
Lord Agnew, who was both a Treasury and Cabinet Office minister, dramatically quit his role in Boris Johnson’s government in the House of Lords on Monday afternoon, saying the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy had shown a “lamentable” oversight of COVID loan schemes which has resulted in large amounts of fraud being committed.
The peer told the chamber that the Treasury “appears to have no knowledge or little interest in the consequences of fraud to our economy or our society”, adding that a mix of “arrogance, indolence and ignorance freezes the government machine”.
Lord Agnew added that his remarks and resignation is “not an attack on the prime minister”.
More than £47bn was given to small businesses under the government’s largest coronavirus scheme – the bounce back loan scheme (BBLS) – which had the aim of saving companies at risk during the pandemic.
The National Audit Office has estimated that as much as £5bn of this could have been fraudulently claimed.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We are grateful to Lord Agnew for his significant contribution he has made to government.”
Source : skynews
