BLAST AT AIR COSTS
WHITEHALL spending on business-class air travel has soared despite intentions to book the lowest fares.
Figures show the Foreign Office bill rose £2.4million last year, from £3.3million in 2017 to £5.7million.
And the amount spent by the Health Department more than trebled from £15,450 to £55,000.
Labour MP Tulip Siddiq is asking ministers how much they are spending on taxis, first-class train tickets and business-class flights. She said: “Some costs will be hard for the public to accept.
“Households are struggling to make ends meet and more people are relying on food banks to survive.”
The Government has made huge economies in taxis and trains but lets rip on air travel. The Foreign Office spent nothing last year on first- class rail and only £142 on taxis compared with £38,000 in 2010. And the Health Department has halved its taxi bill since 2015.
A Foreign Office spokesman said business-class flights are only used for journeys of ten hours or longer – or five hours in “exceptional circumstances”.
The Housing Department revealed it spent £80,000 on business-class flights last year while the Home Office managed to get by on £516.
A spokesman for the Health Department said: “We have cut executive travel spending by nearly 65 per cent in four years.”