The Government has been accused of a “cover up” after officials refused to reveal the cost of Sue Gray’s Partygate inquiry.
Cabinet Office officials insisted it was not possible to reveal the amount spent on the probe because it was buried in existing budgets.
Campaign group Unlock Democracy sought to force the Cabinet Office to publish the cost to the taxpayer of investigations relating to lockdown rule-busting parties in Number 10 and across Whitehall.
But the department refused to break down the cost, arguing it was funded "from the Cabinet Office existing core administration budget for the financial year 2021/22."
Tom Brake, Director of Unlock Democracy said: “This smells of a cover-up."
He added: “We will be appealing. The Sue Gray inquiry is a major drain on the Cabinet Office's budget and it is inconceivable that nobody is keeping a record of how much investigating covid lockdown parties will cost the department.”
Sources estimated the cost of the probe could be as high as £80,000, the Sunday Mirror revealed last month.
And up to £100,000 more could be being splashed on the Met’s investigation into lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street, as police officers sift through hundreds of photographs, CCTV images and other evidence.
Mr Brake added: “The refusal to provide this information is about avoiding embarrassment for the PM and other Ministers.
“They don't want the public to know how much the inquiry into their rule-breaking cost the taxpayer."
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: "The investigation was carried out against published terms of reference by civil servants in the Cabinet Office, funded by existing budgets."
