A Tory bond black hole is leaving Britain paying £251 billion.

That’s 76 times the amount that the Tories lost during Black Wednesday in 1992.

Here’s how poor Conservative economic choices made this happen. 🧵 During the financial crisis, a Treasury fund was set up to profit from the Bank of England’s quantitative easing programme.

It was meant to help the UK recover from the global financial crisis, with the Bank buying up government bonds and assets.

It was working well.

The Prime Minister’s radio interviews this morning have made the disastrous situation our economy faces even worse.

Her failure to answer questions about what will happen with people’s pensions and mortgages will leave families across the country facing huge worry. 1/4 It is disgraceful that the family finances of people across the country are being put on the line simply so the Government can give huge unfunded tax cuts to those earning hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. 2/4

THREAD 👇

Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been dished out to criminals.
 
Money that could help people and businesses in need – or our stretched NHS.
 
All because the Chancellor's lack of checks for self-certifying business support. 1/7 At least £6.5bn of business support money has gone to fraudsters.
 
In December, I asked why quick electronic checks with HMRC weren’t run before pay outs were made. 2/7

https://twitter.com/RachelReevesMP/status/1468318318603898883

The cost of living crisis is escalating, and we have a Conservative government refusing to look at how its own choices have led to this.

Instead of letting a difficult winter unfold, they should be using our recovery to make our economy stronger.
Thread.
ft.com/content/08276c… Today, @Ed_Miliband warned the Conservatives that we're reaching a crunch point with energy prices, and that time is running out.

Conservative complacency is leaving families and businesses exposed to rising energy prices.

We need urgent action on this.
news.sky.com/story/energy-c…

NEW: Labour will scrap the private equity carried interest loophole – a loophole that leaves fund managers with a tax break of up to £170,000 a year.

Here’s why [THREAD] 
ft.com/content/16c17b… How does this deeply unfair loophole work at the moment? 

Firstly, the same rules have applied since 1987, despite huge economic changes. 

Since then, the income fund managers receive in carried interest has been taxed at the rate of Capital Gains Tax, rather than Income Tax.

The supply chain crisis is the result of the Tories' Brexit deal and their failure to plan - together with the neglect of vital jobs and ministers' refusal to listen to those working in industry. 1/8
theguardian.com/politics/2021/… HGV drivers are some of the many overlooked and undervalued workers who are vital to keep our economy moving. @RHANews estimate it could take up to 18 months to tackle the shortfall of HGV drivers. 2/8 rha.uk.net/News/News-Blog…

Today, Labour sets out the 5⃣ tests we expect from this government for our economic recovery.

We must use this moment to build an economy that makes the most of the huge potential we have as a country. Thread.
ft.com/content/524d9d… The UK had the worst economic crisis in the G7 over the pandemic, and hasn’t bounced back to its pre-crisis GDP per capita.

🇺🇸 US is already there
🇯🇵 Japan will be there in October
🇩🇪 Germany in January
🇬🇧 UK won’t get there till July 2022.

As we recover from the pandemic, we must futureproof our economy and get it firing on all cylinders.

Today, Labour launches how we would start that: by making, buying & selling more in Britain, and building the skills and jobs of the future. Thread.
theguardian.com/politics/2021/… There are three parts to this plan.

The first is to give more public contracts to British companies, big & small.

We'll do this with stretch environmental and social clauses in contracts, to spend & make more in Britain, while also raising standards as a global trading nation.

The recovery from the pandemic represents a crucial moment for Britain.

This really is not the time for papering over the cracks.

Instead, we must match the scale of the moment and the challenges facing our people and our planet.

A thread on the Queen's Speech. Too many wages have stalled, household debt is rising, and too many are struggling.

Those with the jobs that keep our economy running and our public services going are overlooked and undervalued.

The Government has done nothing for them and nor does this Queen’s Speech.

'Unethical, foolish, and possibly illegal.'

Not my words, but the PM's former Chief Adviser describing Johnson's approach to the luxury refurb of the Downing Street flat.

The government's statement today covers up more than it reveals. We must know who knew what, when. Thread. Last month Sarah Owen asked 24 questions following extraordinary reports of this luxury refurb.

The government have answered about one and a half of them.

We still have no idea who originally paid for the refurb, when, why & how much it's cost to date.

https://twitter.com/SarahOwen_/status/1375360770209427459

This is the week Tory sleaze caught up with this government. A thread. After 40 days of silence, we started the week with a cynically timed and shabby statement from David Cameron.

This raised far more questions on his lobbying of the current Conservative govt, motivated by the prospect of a £multimillion personal payout.

mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

Over the last year, we've seen a growing catalogue of Tory cronyism and waste.

With jobs in the balance and huge sums of taxpayer money spent, today’s @thesundaytimes investigation on Greensill underlines again why this must stop.

Here’s what's unfolded this week - a thread.⬇️ The more we scratch under the surface of Greensill, the more worrying it becomes.

We need a thorough investigation into how Cameron lobbied for Greensill, and what role government played in such a hugely irresponsible company getting so much access.
theguardian.com/politics/2021/…

The news about Serco today will outrage taxpayers.

Its their money - meant to fund a contact tracing system which has never been up to scratch - that is now instead being paid to Serco shareholders via dividends. 1/6
ft.com/content/0dca97… This is also the company, who said in a leaked letter, that Covid was an opportunity for them to cement themselves into our NHS supply chain. 2/6
theguardian.com/society/2020/j…

What exactly happened with Public First yesterday, and revelations that both Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove were linked to a lucrative Covid contract awarded to them?

Discovering the truth of that has been months in the making. THREAD 🧵 In March, Public First won a contract for £840,000 - they ended up being paid around £500,000 - without tender or a written contract.

Both Gove & Cummings said they had nothing to do with the award, despite links with heads of Public First, including work on 2019 Tory Manifesto.

This Tory government is in denial about their incompetent preparations, and at the growing problems from the deal they negotiated with the EU.

Just like their handling of Covid-19, there’s no urgency either.

But the more they ignore issues the bigger they become. [THREAD]👇 Right now, the biggest industry the Tories have grown is red tape and form filling.

This is all adding to the stress, disruption and delays to British businesses which they can ill afford.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

This government’s procurement is an ugly mark on its pandemic response.

We’ve seen millions wasted on unusable PPE, a national Serco tracing system not reaching contacts it should, and a growing catalogue of cronyism.

But what's happened this week is a new low.
🔴THREAD🔴 This government outsourcing #FreeSchoolMeals leaves families with shocking replacements for normal vouchers. These photos are a disgrace.

But while they seem adamant to not feed hungry children, let's remind ourselves of contracts they have splashed on in recent months...

👥This week in cronyism - and it's not off to a good start.

Sometimes I think this Tory govt imagines we'll all just stop noticing their catalogue of cronyism. They seem to have nothing to say in response.

Stories keep unfolding - Labour will keep holding them to account. 👇 Shocking news just days ago that Hancock's former neighbour won a Covid contract despite no prior experience in medical supplies. He sent a Whatsapp message to the Health Sec. in March asking for a contract.

theguardian.com/world/2020/nov…

We’ve been here before - the clock is running down for the Tories to reach a deal with the EU. Not getting a deal would be one of the biggest political failures of recent history. This degree of reckless incompetence with this Tory government cannot be ruled out. To end up empty handed without a trade deal and with tariffs would essentially be economic sabotage of British manufacturing industries from their own government. Do Tory ministers care? The current Chancellor didn’t even mention it this week. Pitiful.

Another week in Tory government cronyism - and one where the term "chumocracy" is becoming far too familiar. A thread on what's been happening.👇 This isn't just a matter of waste or cronyism - it's a matter of public trust, and it has a huge impact on our public services. My piece this morning in @Independent lays out why this government has got to tackle this now.
independent.co.uk/voices/boris-j…

There’s only a handful of days left for our dangerously distracted government to deliver the oven-ready deal they promised. Leaving without a deal would be devastating for our industries and for consumers - and would have deep repercussions for the UK. 1/6 It takes zero political skill to leave with no deal. None. It requires no strategy, detailed understanding, diplomacy, negotiation, co-operation or vision. It would be the ultimate admission of Tory failure and it’s absolutely damning that it still can’t be ruled out. 2/6

Just now at #PMQs @Keir_Starmer spoke about NEW figures of £130 million spent on comms consultants.

As we wait for the results of the National Audit Office investigation I've called for in the summer, here's a reminder of how this is just the tip of the iceberg 👇 The most recent one, reported only yesterday - was one for £670,000 handed out to a family friend of Dominic Cummings with little experience.
ft.com/content/6159d5…