Taxpayer money spent on Amazon hits ‘record-breaking’ £222m

Taxpayer cash spent on Amazon hit a “record-breaking” £222m last year, according to a new report commissioned by GMB Union. 

The amount of central government, local government and NHS money spent on the internet giant in the calendar year 2022 rose by 69% against the prior year, reaching the highest figure on record. 

The findings come as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer committed to public procurement coming with ‘terms and conditions’, such as union recognition, at GMB’s annual congress this week.

The research, commissioned by GMB from Tussell, a data provider on public sector contracting and spending, also found that Amazon has generated £684m in revenue from the public purse since 2018.

The highest expenditure was from HMRC, which spent £228m on Amazon over the last five years and provided 36% of Amazon’s public sector revenue. HMRC was followed by the Home Office, which spent £189m.

Some 99% of identifiable spending was on Amazon Web Services, the company’s internet hosting arm. 

Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary, said: “Amazon is taking record breaking sums from the public purse at the same time that the company is refusing its own workers an independent voice. These are extraordinary sums of money when Amazon workers are having to go on strike for decent pay.  

“If this amount of taxpayer cash is spent on a private company, the contract must come with guarantees on worker pay, health and safety and their right to be represented by a formally recognised trade union.”