Francis Maude has accused Labour of "burning" taxpayers' money after it was revealed the Government is in the middle of tendering a £4 billion contract for an army of management consultants.
The Government's ‘Framework Agreement’ outlines plans to spend £4 billion on consultants over the next three years across Whitehall - and blows apart Alistair Darling's claim to be delivering efficiency savings.
Francis Maude, the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, stressed this is "another sign of a government that has completely lost its way":
“All the management consultants in the world cannot put this broken Labour Government back together. At a time when Whitehall needs to tighten its belt because of the nation’s ruined public finances, Labour Ministers are burning £4 billion of taxpayers’ money on consultants to tell them what to do."
He added, "It is a sad reflection on how Labour have undermined the integrity and morale of the Civil Service that they need to bring in external consultants to push forward their pet projects and get anything done in Whitehall.”