Boris Johnson's anti-fraud minister resigned over the government's 'lamentable track record' in tackling COVID-19 loan fraud

• Anti-fraud minister Lord Agnew resigned from government over its failure to tackle fraud in COVID-19 loan schemes.
• He said the government's attempts to claw back money from fraudsters had been 'woefully inadequate'.
• It represents another blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's authority.

The UK's anti-fraud minister has dramatically resigned, after criticising Boris Johnson's administration for failing to tackle fraud in a state-backed COVID-19 loan scheme which may cost the taxpayer more than £3 billion.

Lord Agnew, a minister for efficiency and transformation at the Cabinet Office and Treasury, announced his resignation in the House of Lords on Monday after saying he could not defend the government's track record on Covid loan schemes.

He said attempts to recover billions of pounds in fraudulent loans, which were distributed to UK firms during the coronavirus pandemic, had been "woefully inadequate."

The peer criticised the Treasury and the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Department (BEIS) in particular, accusing officials of making "schoolboy errors."

—Sebastian Payne (@SebastianEPayne) January 24, 2022