Gransnet forums

News & politics

How much is the tax payer willing to tolerate

(26 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Tue 17-Nov-20 13:55:48

Yet another report of millions paid to a “consultant” - this time a jewellery designer as a go between in PPE procurement. Initial payment of £21 million and further payment of at least $20 million.

So far the government has paid £200 million to the jewellery designers company who was awarded the contract without any competition.

Devorgilla Tue 17-Nov-20 14:38:09

WW2, I saw this flagged up too. It angers me when I think of all the small business in GB who were offering their services and were ignored so that they then struggled to survive. Apart from a massive and thorough investigation into this, all we can do at this stage is insist they deliver the goods they have been paid to do. Snouts in troughs springs to mind.

suziewoozie Tue 17-Nov-20 14:47:40

In answer to your question, we’re completely powerless aren’t we to do anything? It’s all part of the contempt in which we’re held.

Wheniwasyourage Tue 17-Nov-20 15:31:49

It goes right back to the beginning, when they could have used the local public health teams who are used to tracing contacts for sexually-transmitted disease control. Their skills would easily adapt to covid contact tracing and they have local knowledge. But oh no, the powers that be decided to give contracts to big firms who have already proved that they are useless. angry

GillT57 Tue 17-Nov-20 15:46:43

Wheniwasyourage

It goes right back to the beginning, when they could have used the local public health teams who are used to tracing contacts for sexually-transmitted disease control. Their skills would easily adapt to covid contact tracing and they have local knowledge. But oh no, the powers that be decided to give contracts to big firms who have already proved that they are useless. angry

Yes, and I have already mentioned on a previous thread that the body which governs Environmental Health professionals, over 5,000 members, also offered their experience at tracking food poisoning contacts, were not working due to restuarants being closed, and were turned down.

Wheniwasyourage Tue 17-Nov-20 15:51:56

I know the expression "You couldn't make it up" has been much over-used this year, but really!!

Dinahmo Tue 17-Nov-20 15:58:58

I think that there should be a windfall tax on Amazon and the large supermarkets, all of whom have made increased profits during the current year. It should of course include those companies set up by "friends and family" of the govt since they will no doubt be paying themselves large dividends.

Barmeyoldbat Tue 17-Nov-20 17:03:53

Not a hope in hells chance of anything being done with this corrupt government. We will just have to wait 4 years and by then we will be in a real sorry state.

grannyactivist Tue 17-Nov-20 18:06:26

I don't always agree with the Good Law Project, but I have been financially supporting them in their pursuit of the truth about this mismanagement (that's me being kind) of government money in regard to PPE contracts and the obscene profits being made from them when many of the items purchased are unfit for use or over-ordered to the point where we have thirty years worth of kit that will be out of date after three years.

In any third world country the awarding of jobs and contracts in the manner of this government would lead to calls of corruption and cronyism; as 'jobs for the boys' (and girls)! Yet I've been following this for months with hardly a mention of it being made in the MSM until recently.

That people make a profit bothers me not one whit (it's what businesses do), but that the government are willing to be fleeced by profiteers really does! Many companies, with proven histories of supply, were overlooked when contracts were awarded to a hotchpotch of cobbled together companies who seem primarily to have just one thing in common - that they have links to conservatives in seats of power.

I don't doubt that there have always been elements of 'cronyism' when jobs have been awarded, but never on a scale such as we're seeing now and never with such blatant disregard for how it's playing out in the public arena. At a time when people are losing their jobs by the thousand, where food-banks are overwhelmed, where small businesses are going to the wall every day and young children lack even basic food this is pernicious behaviour and should be exposed and decision makers called to account. angry angry angry

PamelaJ1 Tue 17-Nov-20 18:11:19

It’s on the news at the moment.
Apparently all due diligence has been followed.??‍♀️

vegansrock Tue 17-Nov-20 18:13:50

We truly are becoming a banana republic.

Daisymae Tue 17-Nov-20 21:57:05

I didn't see this thread before I commented elsewhere. I find it unbelievable that there's been so little accountability. The guy in question is due another huge payout.

Hetty58 Tue 17-Nov-20 22:01:09

'becoming' vegansrock? It's just very obvious now.

Nadateturbe Tue 17-Nov-20 23:35:18

A windfall tax sounds good to me Dinahmo. I've thought this for a while. But no chance of it happening.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 18-Nov-20 10:42:45

NAO report. t.co/UCeqRhkgYn?amp=1

“Our new report on government procurement during #COVID19 finds inadequate documentation on key decisions for some contracts, such as how suppliers were chosen or how potential conflicts of interest were managed.”

This is theft from the tax payer on an industrial scale.

Welshwife Wed 18-Nov-20 10:49:39

I saw this morning -
I think on Twitter - a small U.K. company who deals with PPE was not asked to provide the equipment and are now having problems selling their stock as Amazon and Etsy are not allowing it to be advertised on their sites.
The country has gone mad!

Whitewavemark2 Wed 18-Nov-20 11:32:32

Some of the corrupt culprits

Whitewavemark2 Wed 18-Nov-20 11:34:33

Cost of track and trace system:

Ireland £773,000

United Kingdom £12,000,000,000

Guess which one works

grannyactivist Wed 18-Nov-20 12:15:11

I mentioned the Good Law Project because, as far as I'm aware, they are the only organisation trying to hold this government to account regarding the enormous waste of tax payers money. They have been subjecting the various 'deals' to forensic examination with mind-boggling results and in spite of making their findings public they have been mostly ignored by the MSM - until yesterday when the story broke in America.
goodlawproject.org/news/the-jeweller-and-government/

Whitewavemark2 Thu 19-Nov-20 07:43:39

The latest version on the Tory bus.

Dinahmo Thu 19-Nov-20 16:16:51

WWM2 Nice one!

MaizieD Fri 20-Nov-20 13:18:27

So....

Not only are we paying over the odds for PPE but some of it is being made with slave labour

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/nov/20/uk-sourced-ppe-from-factories-secretly-using-north-korean-slave-labour?CMP=share_btn_tw

Was the world always this vile?

Whitewavemark2 Fri 20-Nov-20 13:23:30

I think it has been this vile is days past, but were days that many of us had hoped were civilised.

Whitewavemark2 Fri 04-Dec-20 09:04:36

The Law Commission has recommended a new offence of ‘corruption in public office’. What a good idea.

petra Fri 04-Dec-20 09:22:43

MazieD
It's not just masks. A huge amount of goods labelled 'made in china' are actually being produced in North Korea.