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Labour Spending Taxpayers Millions On Propaganda |
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The Scotsman
By Joe Churcher, PA Chief Parliamentary Reporter
Labour was accused today of illicitly using millions of pounds of taxpayers? money for ?party political propaganda?.
Tory MP Henry Bellingham said a fivefold increase in Government advertising costs was an ?abuse of public funds? designed to help get the party re-elected.
But Labour?s general election chief Alan Milburn rejected his suggestion ? claiming the cash had helped recruit public servants and encourage people to take up state help.
Mr Bellingham (Norfolk NW) said sums spent on adverts had gone up from ?40 million when Labour came to power to a ?quite staggering? ?195 million last year.
?Much of this is not advertising civil service vacancies and jobs but actually promoting Government policy and initiatives which does nothing for improving public services.
?This is barely-disguised party political propaganda and an abuse of public funds,? he told MPs.
Mr Milburn, responding to questions in his role as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said some of the money was used to recruit key workers such as soldiers, nurses and police officers.
More was spent promoting take-up of benefits such as the pension credit, where a ?10-million campaign had helped three million pensioners gain an average ?40 a week.
Another ?7 million had been spent promoting tax credits for poorer families and ?6 million advertising the New Deal ? under which one million people had found jobs.
?I know that you are opposed to that spending; I suspect that is because you are opposed to those programmes,? he countered.
Labour?s Gordon Prentice (Pendle) complained that despite the huge sums, a recent announcement of a rise in the minimum wage was not being promoted enough. |
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