UK PM Rishi Sunak faced criticism from the opposition for using £500,000 taxpayer money in just over a week in 2022 for diplomatic travel (Image: Reuters)
Downing Street defended UK PM Rishi Sunak’s use of private jet travel, which cost taxpayers nearly £500k in just over a week in 2022
A section of the UK opposition criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for taking private jet trips which cost almost £500,000 in just over a week in 2022. The data was shared in a Cabinet Office document which detailed Rishi Sunak’s travel in the third quarter of 2022.
The data shows the Prime Minister spent £108,000 on private jet travel to and from the Cop27 summit in Egypt, reaching the venue on November 6 and returning the next day.
The cost of the round trip to Bali for the G20 summit was over £340,000, followed by a £62,000 day trip to visit troops in Latvia and Estonia. Additionally, a private jet to attend a meeting in Prague cost nearly £40,000.
A report by the Guardian said, while the British PM’s office does have occasional access to an RAF Voyager aircraft designed for passenger travel, all of the flights mentioned in the report were actually conducted on a chartered Airbus A321 from Titan Airways, which was being operated on behalf of the UK government.
The Guardian report pointed out that the plane’s tail fin has a union flag and is a de facto equivalent to the official aircraft used by some other world leaders.
“This is a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when people are struggling to pay their bills. Yet again this Conservative government is completely out of touch,” Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats’ energy and climate spokesperson was quoted as saying.
“The government can pretend to care about a greener future with their so-called ‘green day’ but the reality is they are trashing their own promises,” she further added.
The documents also showed that £20,000 was spent on other costs for the prime ministers which also included accommodation, meals and visas.
The costs incurred by the officials who accompanied him on the trips were not included in the document. At least 35 officials joined Sunak in Bali.
Members of the UK press also travel on these flights but they pay for the flights themselves. The Downing Street in response to the allegations made by the opposition said: “The role of the prime minister includes holding vital meetings with world leaders during bilateral visits and summits to discuss issues of international importance – including security, defence and trade.”
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