Labour Slammed for MR and Polling Spend

In the UK, the Labour party has been criticised by the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition government, for running up market research and polling bills of more than £30m last year.

Communities and Local Government (CLG) was the first department to disclose a list of expenditure on services above £500. These included bills of more than £100k for market research and polling services, which Local Government Minister Bob Neill described as 'taking the taxpayer for a ride'.

'Splashing out six-figure sums on pollsters appears to be another one of Labour's vanity projects. It's unforgivable that a culture of excess was allowed to flourish for so long,' Neill said in an interview with the Press Association.

Overall, the 1,900 items of expenditure for 2009-10 totalled £314m.

Some of the commercial research suppliers singled out in the local government report included BDRC (£18k), BMRB (£371k), Ethnos Research & Consultancy (£97k), GfK NOP (£17k), MORI (£4.4m), Opinion Leader Research (£710k), TNS (£57k) and York Consulting (£32k).

Overall, £16m was spent on market and advertising, promotion and events last year. The CLG also spent £539 on an away-day staff trip to Blackpool and more than £1,600 on massages for staff, supplied by a company called Stress Angels.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has appealed for 'armchair auditors' to help identify savings.

In response, a Labour Party spokesman said: 'The last Labour Government had made many efficiency savings and had a realistic plan to half the deficit within four years.

'This is nothing more than August posturing by Tory and Lib Dem ministers who should have better things to do.'

The government intends to make £83bn in savings in the next four to five years, and has already announced a 40% headcount reduction at the Central Office of Information (COI), as part of its freeze on 'non-essential' advertising and marketing spend.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.