Letter to the Independent 16 March

The Independent’s editorial on Jeremy Hunt and the £1bn apprenticeship rip-off was a fascinating read. Hunt must have noticed it, and if he does not it will reflect badly on him and his government. The question as to why we are funding “apprentice” courses for top executives on £100k a year is not difficult to answer.

It is the product of the Tory view that the public purse is their pork barrel. The notion that funding the MBA of an active employee on a six-figure salary, plus benefits no doubt, is equivalent to a young person learning a skill for life from an employer at what is frequently a low wage is an absurdity. And they are funded in mutual competition from the same pot!?

Like the needs of the Tory party and the needs of society, they are poles apart. It is ironic that Tory governments, while dipping their oversize and grasping mitts into public funds, simultaneously maintain the tax havens and trust arrangements that ensure supporters and funders do not contribute their fair share of tax to the public resources they consistently plunder.

We are still involved in the painfully slow process of assessing the PPE contract fiasco, another product of their greedy “fill your boots” philosophy. Hunt must act now; if he does not he underscores yet another Tory failure. We can safely assume that he will not deal with tax havens.

David Nelmes

Newport