London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, May 29, 2026

Labour accuse Tories of spending sprees on hotels, dining and gifts

Labour accuse Tories of spending sprees on hotels, dining and gifts

Labour has accused the Conservative government of overseeing "lavish spending" on hotels, hospitality and other costs using taxpayer-funded debit cards.

The bills have been highlighted in a Labour study of spending on government debit cards in 2021.

Examples of bills include £3,393 on 13 fine art photographs, and £23,457 on alcohol for UK embassies abroad.

The Conservatives branded Labour's analysis a "political stunt".

A Conservative Party spokesperson said Labour spent almost £1bn on the cards - known as government procurement cards (GPCs) - in 2009, when the party was last in government.

This spending was across the whole of the public sector, while Labour's analysis focused on 14 government departments, so the figures are not directly comparable.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak "has failed to rein in the culture of lavish spending across Whitehall on his watch".

In a 24-page document, titled the GPC Files, Labour included examples of government spending, including:

* The Treasury buying 13 fine art photographs from The Tate Gallery for £3,393

* £344,803 of card expenditure by Foreign Office diplomats in 2021 under the category "restaurants and bars"

* The Foreign Office spending £7,218 on a reception for Liz Truss, when she was foreign secretary

* The Ministry of Justice paying £4,019 for 850 branded USB cables for staff taking part in a virtual conference

* The Department of Health spending £59,155 on items of stationery in March 2021, compared to £1,470 in the whole of the rest of the year combined

Ms Rayner said her party's analysis showed "a scandalous catalogue of waste, with taxpayers' money frittered away across every part of government".

A Labour government would "get tough on waste, with an Office of Value for Money upholding transparency and high standards for all public spending, including on government procurement cards", she added.

Ms Rayner, who has claimed more than £2,000 worth of Apple products on expenses, defended herself against accusations of hypocrisy.

Speaking on Times Radio Ms Rayner said her spending was not "the same as millions of pounds that is being used on these credit cards in an inappropriate way".

"I'm actually using the equipment right now as I'm speaking to you on the iPad."

The Conservatives cut the number of cards in use and introduced a requirement for spending to be publicly declared, a government spokesman said.

The Cabinet Office said the cards can save time and money when used for one-off purchases and are considered to be an efficient way of paying for goods and services.

Transport minister Richard Holden said Labour had "wasted" civil servants time and "half-a-million pounds" uncovering the information was already publicly available.

"All of this data is publicly available online, it has been since 2012 - something which didn't happen under the last Labour government," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain.

"We publish it on a monthly basis."


'Value for money'


The cards were introduced by the government of former Labour prime minister Tony Blair in 1997 as a more convenient way to make low-value purchases.

They were made available to all public sector organisations, including central government departments, local authorities and the NHS.

The use of the cards has come under increased public and political scrutiny following a major scandal over expenses claims made by MPs in 2009.

In a report on GPCs in 2012, the National Audit Office said "there has been a lack of central oversight and control of the card, which has increased risks to value for money".

In its study of the cards, Labour analysed spending data for every major government department in 2021, apart from the Ministry of Defence.

The party obtained some of the data in statements written by ministers in response to parliamentary questions asked by Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general.

The 14 government departments - including the Treasury and Home Office - spent about £145.5m using GPCs in 2021, compared to £84.9m spent by the equivalent departments in 2010-11, according to Labour's analysis.

However, the analysis does not take into account inflation.

Labour have published a full analysis of the government's use of GPCs.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
Global Critical Mineral Alliances Expand as Western Nations Move to Counter Chinese Supply Dominance
United States Imposes Fifty Percent Tariffs on Mexican Steel and Aluminum Ahead of Trade Pact Review
European Union and China Head Toward Major Trade Conflict Over Clean Technology Exports
United States Economic Growth Severely Downgraded to One Point Six Percent as Stagflation Fears Mount
World Health Organization Warns Central African Ebola Epidemic is Outpacing Containment Efforts
United States Treasury Department Conditions Sanctions Relief on Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Air Defenses Intercept and Destroy United States Military Drone Over Bushehr Province
Iranian Armed Forces Launch Ballistic Missiles Toward Unspecified Targets Prompting Regional Condemnation
United Nations Secretary-General Warns Global Order Facing Highest Level of Conflict Since 1945
Israel Issues Sweeping Evacuation Orders in Southern Lebanon Amid Intensified Hezbollah Conflict
Russia Announces Systemic Military Strikes Targeting Ukrainian Defense and Energy Infrastructure
United States and Iranian Negotiators Reach Draft Agreement to Extend Ceasefire and Resume Nuclear Talks
United Nations Security Council Deeply Divided Over United States Capture of Venezuelan President
US and Iran Exchange Direct Military Strikes Amid Fragile Gulf Ceasefire
World Health Organization Warns of Catastrophic Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo
Russia Threatens New Wave of Strikes on Ukrainian Infrastructure and Embassies
Scientists Warn Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse Faster Than Projected
Anthropic Reaches $900 Billion Valuation in Historic AI Funding Round
Washington Imposes Crippling Sanctions on Iranian Maritime Authority
Japan and the Philippines Initiate Strategic Intelligence-Sharing Pact
Microsoft Deploys Autonomous Computer-Using AI Agents to Global Markets
Anthropic Secures $45 Billion Compute Infrastructure Agreement With SpaceX
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Resigns Amid Administration Shakeup
Micron Technology Crosses Trillion-Dollar Valuation Amid Unprecedented Hardware Demand
Canada and Germany Finalize Historic Long-Term LNG Export Agreement
China Expands International Travel Restrictions on Domestic AI Researchers
Japan Approves Sweeping Overhaul of National Intelligence Apparatus
Global Airlines Scramble Logistics as Middle East Airspace Remains Fractured
Japan's Naphtha Imports Plunge 47 Percent Amid Strait of Hormuz Closure
Global Crude Prices Retreat Below $96 as Gulf Tensions Momentarily Ease
Generative AI Outperforms Human Baselines in Landmark Global Creativity Study
NASA Partners With Private Aerospace to Unveil Permanent Lunar Base Architecture
South Korean Equity Markets Surge on Next-Generation Memory Chip Frenzy
×