It's easy to become numb to the scale and frequency of the Government's fiscal ineptitude and dodginess, and all while public services are crumbling and millions of Brits struggle to pay bills.

The total does not include the catastrophic hit to public finances from the Government’s Brexit deal which has crippled businesses, slowed economic growth, and is estimated to be costing around £100bn per year. Similarly, the total does not include the titanic economic cost of the disastrous mini-budget which increased bills for mortgage payers across the country and which ended Liz Truss’ premiership after 6 weeks.

However, it does include the devastating £290m sunk on the Government’s cruel and unworkable Rwanda Deal, the whopping £2.3bn spent on cancelled parts of HS2, and £50m spent on a new helicopter for top Tories.

With an election scheduled for 4th July, it’s clear that this egregious waste is likely to continue if Sunak’s government is given another five years in power. That’s why at this election we’re asking people to vote tactically for change. Find out how at GetVoting.org.

The data

The total figure is an estimate using publicly available data. You can find the full list of scandalous spending along with sources here. 

We’ve categorised each entry as either a Crony Contract (such as giving government contracts to Conservative chums), a Duff Deal (like blowing billions on stuff that doesn’t work) or an Outrageous Outgoing (including spending silly money on things like interior design).