Number 10 defends taxpayer-funded vaccine film
Number 10 has defended the production of a taxpayer-funded film documenting the UK’s “extraordinary” vaccine rollout, insisting it was produced in-house and within departmental budgets.
The trailer for A Beacon Of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story was released more than four weeks ago, with the full version billed as “coming soon”.
The 30-minute film was originally set to be released within a week of the trailer dropping, with ministers describing it as a “thank you” to all the people who played a part in the success of the UK’s jabs programme.
Officials have refused to detail the costs for the documentary, but maintained that it was produced by Number 10 staff “as part of their work”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said today that the movie, featuring Jonathan Van-Tam and other key figures from the pandemic, was created within the existing budget for the government’s digital communications team.
The spokesman insisted that it was “important that the public are able to understand this important public health issue about the vaccine rollout.”
The UK’s vaccine rollout has been widely praised, with almost 40.5m doses administered so far.
Labour MPs last month questioned the need for the video, given that Britain is currently seventh in the global vaccine charts.
Angela Rayner, deputy Labour leader, said that “the government must come clean about how much taxpayers’ money was spent making this ‘documentary’ and for what purpose.”
She added: “Surely the money would be better spent on pay rises for the NHS staff who have been saving lives throughout this pandemic and are now rolling out the vaccine?”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, meanwhile, accused the Prime Minister of being “more concerned about producing expensive government propaganda than paying nurses properly.”
The government has faced flak in recent months for a series of taxpayer-funded promotional videos featuring ministers.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak was accused of using taxpayer money to curate his own brand after posting a six-minute-long video reflecting on his time in Number 11 in the run-up to the Budget.
Labour MP Chris Bryant accused Sunak of being “vain”, while his colleague Darren Jones asked if there was another Conservative party “leadership election” on the horizon.