Reeves’ failing Office for Value for Money showcases just how naive this government is, writes Eliot Wilson

Politicians who have never been in government often have a mystical belief in the power of efficiency savings. The public sector, they reason, is proverbially bloated and inefficient, and a stern approach to spending will inevitably allow billions of pounds to be recouped or saved.

This was the will o’the wisp foundation of Rachel Reeves’s announcement in 2023 that a Labour government would establish an “Office for Value for Money” (OfVM). Spurred by accusations of waste and corruption during the Covid-19 pandemic, the then-shadow chancellor said that the new body would scrutinise proposed spending to “root out waste and make our economy stronger”. She must have been thrilled to see The Daily Mirror characterise it as an “anti-waste hit squad [which] will stop taxpayer cash being flushed down [the] drain”.

The Office for Value for Money was formally established last October as “a multidisciplinary team of civil servants based in HM Treasury”. Some eyebrows were raised when the independent chair was announced as........

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