The Vanity Projects The Government Is Spending Money On Rather Than Feeding Kids
On Wednesday, 322 Tory MPs voted against a measure to extend free school meals for the country’s poorest children over the half-term and winter school holidays.
As millions face crippling financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the government opted to cut short a lifeline for the most vulnerable families. As a result, 1.4 million children risk going to bed hungry this Christmas.
Instead, these are the vanity projects the government has deemed worth British taxpayers’ money:
1. The “Brexit Festival” (£120m)
Even as the government urges musicians, actors and artists to “adapt” to the crisis and consider “fresh and new opportunities” or retrain as boxers, plans are still underway for the £120m so-called ‘Festival of Brexit’.
First announced by then prime minister Theresa May in 2018, the festival – intended to mark Brexit as a moment of “national renewal” and to “celebrate our nation’s diversity and talent” – was given the go-ahead by Boris Johnson last year.
Now temporarily renamed ‘Festival UK 2022’, organisers of the “once-in-generation celebration” say the project could be “one big act or 10 million tiny acts” and “might last a day or a year”.
The festival has long been a subject of ridicule with critics claiming it is a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. Recently there have been calls to divert the £120m to save jobs in the arts sector facing catastrophic job losses as a result of Covid-19.
2. Repainting the “Brexit plane” (nearly £1m)
Apparently, a Brexit festival is not enough Brexit for Britain – we also needed a Brexit plane. Back in June, Downing Street confirmed Johnson’s military grey RAF VIP plane was going to get a fresh new makeover: a red, white and blue repainting that would cost “around £900,000”.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said the RAF Voyager was being repainted so it can “better represent the UK around the world with national branding”, but...
