By Tony O’Riley-
Treasury minister Lord Agnew has resigned from the government over how it has handled fraudulent Covid business loans.
The Conservative peer marched out of the House of Lords, saying “schoolboy errors” had been made in a “desperately inadequate” operation.
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He was updating peers about £4.3bn of loans – written off by the Treasury – which Labour said has gone to “fraudsters”.
Lord Agnew left unceremoniously, slamming his folder shut, said “thanks and goodbye”, and immediately left to applause.
“Given that I am the minister for counter-fraud, it would be somewhat dishonest to stay on in that role if I am incapable of doing it properly,” he said.
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It comes as people arriving in England from abroad will no longer have to take Covid tests if they have been vaccinated, Boris Johnson said on Monday.
The prime minister said the rule change was designed to show that the country was open for business and travellers, though he did not say when the requirement would change. Further details are expected to be given later on Monday.
Lord Agnew, a Treasury minister with responsibility for cross-government efficiency, said “a combination of arrogance, indolence and ignorance” was “freezing the government machine”.
He accused the government of making “schoolboy errors” by giving loans to over 1,000 companies who were not trading when Covid struck.
“I hope that as a virtually unknown minister beyond this place giving up my career might prompt others to get behind this and sort it out,” he said.
In a dramatic moment in the House of Lords, he read out his resignation speech in response to a question from Labour about the £4.3bn of Covid loans written off by the Treasury.
He concluded with a “thank you and goodbye”, before marching out of the chamber to a round of applause – a rare occurrence in the Lords.
HMRC has insisted that “robust measures were put in place to control error and fraud in the key coronavirus support schemes”.
A No 10 spokesman said: “We are grateful to Lord Agnew for the significant contribution he has made to government.
“On the wider issues that he’s raised, we introduced our unprecedented Covid support schemes at speed to protect jobs and livelihoods, helping millions of people across the UK, including nearly 12 million on the furlough scheme alone.
“We’ve always been clear fraud is unacceptable and are taking action against those abusing the system, with 150,000 ineligible claims blocked, £500m recovered last year and the HMRC tax protection taskforce is expected to recover an additional £1bn of taxpayers’ money.”
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