EFFORTS by Tory ministers to recover the £2.3 billion of taxpayers’ cash received by employers falsely claiming Covid-19 furlough support for staff who continued to work are “woeful and will fail to deter potential future criminals,” MPs warned today.

The public accounts committee revealed that the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who as chancellor oversaw the emergency job and income support scheme, has had little success recouping the money. 

The cross-party group also blasted the decision to wind up the “taxpayer protection taskforce” without having recovered the funds, saying that it put public cash at risk.