Ditched government projects lost taxpayer 6.6bn last year, watchdog says

Government departments wrote off £6.6bn in a year for spending that did not achieve intended objectives or create value for taxpayers. The public accounts committee found repeated cancellations after significant spending as a particularly serious example of poor value. Losses were linked to write-offs and debts no longer pursued, departments cancelling or retiring assets, and fraud. The Ministry of Defence recorded a £1.6bn loss in 2024-25 from cancelling projects. The Treasury attributed losses largely to retiring assets and changes in government policy after a July 2024 shift to a Labour administration. The Home Office recorded a £290m loss tied to the Rwanda deportation scheme, and the Department for Transport recorded a £472m loss from cancelling eight road projects, including the A303 tunnel under Stonehenge.

"About 6.6bn was written off by government departments last year alone state spending that did not achieve its intended objectives or create any value for the taxpayer, the public accounts committee said. The PAC said successive governments' propensity to cancel projects after spending significant sums of public money was a particularly egregious example of poor value."

"The cross-party group of MPs analysed spending across the 17 main government departments, with help from the National Audit Office, and found the most significant reported losses related to write-offs and debts no longer being pursued, departments cancelling or retiring assets, and fraud. The Ministry of Defence was one of the most wasteful departments, incurring a 1.6bn loss in the 2024-25 tax year through cancelling projects."

"Similarly, the Home Office registered a loss of 290m for the Conservatives' Rwanda deportation scheme that Labour dumped, while the Department for Transport incurred a 472m loss from cancelling eight road projects, including the planned A303 tunnel under Stonehenge. Betts said: At a time of such straitened financial circumstances for so many, we should never, ever be satisfied with time or money wasted at no benefit to the public."

"Yet here our report finds 6.6bn last year simply boiled off into the atmosphere as a loss, the victim of cancelled projects or changed priorities. He added: We must reject the argument that high levels of spending are justified simply because they are large, or because they are already committed."

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