Council defends private cars bill

BIRMINGHAM City Council has spent £60,000 - the most of all local authorities in the UK - on private cars “to ferry local bigwigs about” in the past three years, it has been revealed.

The data has been collected by the TaxPayers Alliance (TPA), whose chief executive has called the expenditure on “luxury” cars, the “height of hypocrisy”.

The research found the council had spent £59,884 on the lease, maintenance and fuel for a Range Rover and a Jaguar F-Pace Saloon - and the latter has a personalised number plate.

However, a spokesperson for the council stressed that the Range Rover and Jaguar F-Pace Saloon are used by several senior members, and furthermore, their purchase supported local manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover. They also stated that the LOM1 personalised number plate was purchased decades ago.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service also asked the council if it was confident the Range Rover was a suitable choice, given it called a climate emergency in 2019 and made a commitment to reduce the city’s carbon emissions. Last year the Ecologist found that Range Rovers are among the most polluting SUVs, as they are among the top selling vehicles which have average CO2 emissions in the top 10 percent of the market.

A Birmingham City Council spokesperson said: “Our use of JLR vehicles is supporting local manufacturing, which means the expenditure represents an investment in local jobs, skills and innovation. When the cost over three years is broken down to a daily cost, this equates to less than £28 per vehicle per day.”

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “These luxury mayoral limos represent the height of hypocrisy. Some travel will of course be necessary as a mayor, but councils cannot claim to be cash-strapped if they are still paying for Teslas and Jags to ferry local bigwigs about.”