How much money is Sunak really going to recover with his Covid fraud ‘task force’?

The chancellor has declared he will be leading efforts to recover £5bn stolen from Covid support schemes but, asks Chris Blackhurst, isn’t this just more boosterism?

Does the chancellor genuinely suppose he and his colleagues are ‘acting to make sure fraudsters pay the price’? (PA)

Rishi Sunak announced the Treasury is to spend £25m on recovering money stolen from state-backed Covid support schemes.

The usual boosterism is called upon. This isn’t to be a normal body, but a “task force”, which begs the question: at one time just how many task forces are there across this government? They’re not data analysts that will be hired, but data analytic “experts”. Of course they are.

Says Sunak: “People are rightly furious that fraudsters took advantage of our vital Covid support schemes, and we are acting to make sure they pay the price.” You have to wonder, does the chancellor, on paper at least an intelligent man, well versed in business and finance, having done stints at Goldman Sachs and in hedge funds, really believe this guff? Does he genuinely suppose he and his colleagues are “acting to make sure they pay the price”?