North Tyneside Conservatives deny abuse of government furlough scheme

A Conservative Party group in the North East has denied abusing the government's furlough scheme, after an allegation made by a Labour MP in parliament.

North Tyneside Labour MP Mary Glindon said during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday: "With the government losing an estimated £4 billion to fraud in the furlough scheme, surely the Prime Minister should have tackled that fraud - especially when, in his own party in North Tyneside, furlough was claimed for a member of party staff even though he continued to work."

In response, Boris Johnson referred to the "speed" of the furlough scheme, and described it as "heroic." He continued: "fraudsters will be hunted down. We have put another £100 million into tracking down fraud in this country."

A spokesperson for the North Tyneside Conservative Federation said later: "The allegations made in parliament today are false. We refute them all and deny any abuse of the government’s furlough scheme."

“We can confirm we have not been contacted by the police, HMRC or North Tyneside Council in relation to these unfounded allegations, but we will of course work with them."HMRC said it would not confirm or deny investigations.