Donelan under pressure to repay libel payout and fees which cost taxpayers £34,000

Michelle Donelan is facing fresh calls to pay back a five-figure sum after the Government admitted its total costs for a libel suit against her was more than double previously thought.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said on Thursday that legal fees amassed on behalf of the Science Secretary after falsely accusing two academics of supporting Hamas cost the public an additional £19,000.

It comes on top of the £15,000 in damages she was forced to pay to one of the academics, first revealed by i last month. It brings the total cost to the taxpayer for Ms Donelan’s libel suit to more than £34,000.

In a letter on Thursday to Peter Kyle, the Shadow Science Secretary, DSIT’s top official Sarah Munby said the Government racked up a £7,785 bill for internal legal advice. She also revealed that external private legal counsel was sought which cost a further £11,600.

DSIT had previously refused to disclose legal costs for the case, and on Monday rejected a Freedom of Information Request sent by i last month demanding the total legal costs. The department told i it needed a one month extension to conduct a “public interest test” to determine whether the figures should be made public.

Mr Kyle said it was a “slap in the face to hardworking families up and down the country that over £34,000 of taxpayers’ money was wasted on unprofessional and libellous behaviour from a Conservative cabinet minister”.

“Instead of trying to cover up the true cost of her actions, Michelle Donelan should have had the decency to pay the money back to the taxpayer,” he added.

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Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said the “saga stinks of a rotten cover up, with Donelan at its core”.

“Michelle Donelan must pay this money back now. People’s taxes should not be used to bail out disgraced Conservative Ministers,” she said.

It comes after i revealed last month that the taxpayer footed a £15,000 compensation bill on behalf of Ms Donelan after the Science Secretary falsely accused two academics of holding “extremist” views.

In a letter to the head of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in October, the Science Secretary falsely accused two academics on an advisory group of the national funding research body of supporting Hamas and called for them to be suspended. Ms Donelan also shared the letter publicly on X.

UKRI cleared the two academics of any wrongdoing last month following an independent investigation and has invited them to resume their roles on its advisory board.

DSIT said Ms Donelan did not have to pay any of the costs herself since the letter was sent in her ministerial capacity and was signed off by Government lawyers.

However, she still faces questions over whether the department was monitoring academics on the UKRI board. i revealed last year that Ms Donelan’s special advisers at DSIT created an 11-page document cataloguing three years’ worth of social media activity by one of the academics after the Science Secretary requested more information on them.

It contained an extensive list of the academic’s posts supporting transgender rights, Black Lives Matter, lecturer strikes and criticisms of No 10.

The document was split into three sections titled “anti-racism”, highlighting posts in support of Black Lives Matter, “transgender advocacy” and “militant leftism”, which includes posts in support of strike action.

The Government insisted to i at the time that this was the only document of its kind, though Ms Donelan had requested information on several academics.

DSIT was approached for comment.