Ernst & Young pocketed £825,000 to advise the government on the privatisation of bookmaker Tote, a deal which was shelved last October.

Labour opted to retain ownership of Tote ‘for the medium term,’ despite twice having promised to sell off Tote’s 529 betting agencies and monopoly on pool betting to the racing industry.

On this occasion, no racing consortium was able to match the Government’s £400m valuation, The Telegraph reported. The nearest bid was £80m short.

Tote is not performing well in public hands. Its accounts show profit declined to £8.7m in the year to March 2008, from £17m the previous year.