Sir Keir Starmer spent over £60,000 on a trip to watch the Lionesses in the Euros final, despite pledging to cut down on jet use.
The Prime Minister used the Government’s Airbus A321 to fly from London to Zurich in July to arrive in time for the Women’s Euros football final in Basel, where the Lionesses beat Spain on penalties.
The official figures published on Tuesday night showed the one-night trip cost £60,130, including hotels for the Prime Minister, his wife Victoria and 10 officials from Downing Street.
Whilst in opposition, Rachel Reeves pledged to clamp down on official use of government planes in a bid to “save millions of pounds for taxpayers.”
Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Mike Wood slammed the decision, calling the Prime Minister “out of touch.”
The Tory MP for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire said: “Perhaps it’s because of the Prime Minister’s unpopularity that he seeks to find relevance so far afield.
“While he’s rarely seen on home soil, taxpayers are being asked to foot a £60,000 bill for a one-night football trip on the government jet.
“At a time when families are tightening their belts, this kind of jet-setting looks completely out of touch and reinforces why people are switching off from him. It is time for Labour to get a grip on their spending and on their governance.”
The Prime Minister and his wife Victoria at the final
|
GETTY
A spokesman for Downing Street said: “It was a very important moment for the nation – [the Lionesses’] victory was not only a remarkable sporting achievement, but an inspiration for young people across the country. It was right the PM was there to watch this historic win.”
Travel data published by the Cabinet Office on Tuesday also showed the Prime Minister’s last-minute dash to Washington DC for a “multilateral meeting on Ukraine” cost British taxpayers £169,412.
The following month David Lammy travelled by “scheduled flight” costing £15,027 to the annual United Nations summit in New York “on behalf of the PM.”
However, his successor as Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, took the Government plane to the same event in New York at a cost of £164,476.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper with US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz in New York
|
GETTY
Before the General Election, Labour figures were quick to criticise Conservative ministers for using private jets, in particular Liz Truss and her use of a private jet to visit Australia for trade talks in 2022.
Angela Rayner, who was Deputy Labour Leader at the time, said: “[Flying privately] shows the public exactly quite how little respect this Conservative government has for taxpayers’ money.
“This government is brazen in its disregard for upholding decency.”
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak was described as “out of touch” by Labour after he used private planes and helicopters to travel around the UK during the General Election campaign.
Rishi Sunak was accused of using helicopters to travel around the country
|
POOLJust a few weeks after the General Election, Conservative MP for South West Wiltshire Andrew Murrison said: “Can we have a debate on trust in politics and politicians?
“Newly minted ministers are already hopping on and off the Airbus A321 airplane, the same plane that was condemned in 2022 by the then-opposition as obscene, brazen and disgusting.
“In that debate will the Government be able to explain how that jaw-dropping show of double standards and hypocrisy is compatible with restoring trust?”
The Commons Leader at the time Lucy Powell said the Prime Minister’s travel arrangements are a “security matter.”
She said: “I’m glad he raises that point because we’re actually having a debate this afternoon on resorting trust in politicians and politics, as this Government brings forward its manifesto commitment to take action on the sleaze and scandal and cronyism we saw in the last Parliament.
“We want to turn the page on that decisively, as we are beginning to do today.
“He will know that the travel arrangements of the Prime Minister are security matters, and I’m sure he’ll respect that.”