Bulwell MP says Government must be held to account on Greensill scandal

It’s a very complex situation, and only the beginning.

But at the heart of it is a very simple example of cronyism at its worst.

In short, Government ministers are alleged to have put hundreds of millions of pounds of public money at risk by giving their friends access to Covid loan schemes.

As a result, thousands of jobs across the country now hang in the balance because of the company’s collapse.

Those workers, and British taxpayers, deserve answers.

The Greensill scandal is just the tip of the iceberg of the cronyism rife in the Conservative party during the pandemic – and long before – laced through billions of pounds of contracts paid for by taxpayers and a slew of troubling senior appointments.

The Labour Party therefore forced a vote in the House of Commons last Wednesday to establish a full, transparent, Parliament-led inquiry into the Greensill scandal.

However, this was voted down by the Government, which has instead chosen to investigate itself.

This means the Conservatives have no intention of stopping the cronyism rampant in the party or uncover, once and for all, the truth behind this scandal.

Since then, more examples have emerged, mostly focused on civil servants with second employments at lobbying organisations.

And I have little doubt that more examples will come out of the woodwork.

It’s important that the Government is held to account on this dishonest behaviour that puts taxpayer money at serious risk, and I will continue to do this.

I therefore support calls for the Government to use the upcoming Queen’s Speech to legislate for the expansion of the scope of the lobbying register to include in-house lobbyists – a move that could have detected the nature of Mr Cameron’s lobbying activities for Greensill sooner.