Government criticised for spending £10m on Brexit advertising campaign

Ministers have been criticised for spending more than £10m over eight months on an advertising campaign to help people and businesses prepare for Brexit.

Figures released to the PA news agency under Freedom of Information laws showed the government spent £10,842,063 on their Prepare For EU Exit adverts between November 2018 and July this year.

The cabinet office spent £2.7m on print, £2.4m on radio, £1.2m on TV and more than £1 million on social media advertising, and a further £3m on other platforms, according to the data.

The figures also revealed that the page advising people living in the UK on how to prepare received 1.2m views by the end of May, while the EU citizens preparedness tool had 930,000 views.

Labour Party chair Ian Lavery said:

Nine months on and £10 million later our country is no further forward.

The Tories have bungled negotiations and they have no plan except to prolong our agony with a costly no-deal Brexit.

A government spokesperson said:

We have stepped up preparations to ensure we are ready for Brexit and we have been reviewing the guidance we are issuing across Whitehall to ensure we are fully prepared for leaving on 31 October, whatever the circumstances.

It is paramount that organisations, communities and citizens have the right information and support for Brexit.

We will soon launch a large-scale public information campaign setting out what business and the public need to know and do to be fully prepared for Brexit.

The disclosure comes as an estimated £100m has been devoted to a new information campaign under Boris Johnson’s administration, helping people and businesses get ready to leave on 31 October.