Northumberland Labour says the Chancellor has written off eye watering amounts of fraud money which, if better safeguards had been in place, could have been better spent to help individuals and families.

Leader Scott Dickinson said: “This government has as appalling record on fraud, which shows a total lack of respect for public money.

“What with contracts with cronies for faulty personal and protective equipment and billions lost in loan fraud, this just tells us that the government cannot be trusted to look after our money.

“An astounding £4.3 billion has been written off in fraud; that’s £154 written off for each of the 27.8 million households in the UK.

“The tragedy is the government will be looking to us to find the money they’ve squandered with further cuts to services.

“But it doesn’t have to be like this. Labour pledges to treat every pound of taxpayer money with the respect it deserves. We will set up an Independent Office for Value for Money to look closely at our spending and make sure every penny is spent well. We’d also take forward an Economic Crime Bill to tackle fraud and corruption to punish people who are effectively stealing from the taxpayers of this country.

“We see this in our own county where the council chooses to use council tax payers’ money to remove people from office. We’re determined to hold the council to account for this and make sure money is spent on what people in Northumberland need.”