Never forget public money is actually taxpayers' money

‘The Tories were once the party of sound money – not any more’

- Leo McKinstry

AS THE daughter of a Lincolnshire grocer, Margaret Thatcher was devoted to financial prudence. “There is no such thing as public money. There is only taxpayers’ money,” she once said, condemning demands for ever greater state expenditure.

Her remark was absolutely right. Every penny of government funding has to come from borrowing or taxation. That is why ministers have a moral duty to spend wisely, respecting the rights of taxpayers.

In the end, it is the ordinary, hard-working citizens who have to pay the price of fiscal incontinence or extravagant profligacy.

But sadly, the official response to Covid-19 ignores that truth.

In the fallout from the crisis, the concept of value for money appears to have been washed away by a tidal wave of irresponsibility across Whitehall.

Cautious restraint has given way to cavalier recklessness, promoting a culture of waste, incompetence and cronyism.

As the emergency drags on, the British public continues to make huge personal and financial sacrifices, yet at the same time a privileged group of business people, many with close connections to the Government, have done extremely well out of the pandemic.