Labor slams reports Liz Truss chartered private jet for Australia trip ‘costing taxpayers £500,000’ | politics news

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Labor accused Liz Truss of spending “disgusting sums of public money” on “vanity and comfort” after reports that the foreign minister had chartered a private jet for her trip to Australia.

The flight on last week’s private Airbus A321, which The Independent reports was chosen due to security concerns, is estimated to cost around £500,000.

The State Department said the flight fell within the rules set by ministerial law and that use of the chartered plane allowed Ms. Truss and her delegation to have “private discussions on sensitive security issues”.

But Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner said the move showed the public “how little this conservative government respects taxpayers’ money”.

“It is outrageous that government ministers prepare the planes but raise taxes and refuse to do anything to help working families when they feel the cost of living crunch,” said Ms Rainer.

“Conservatives are wasting disgusting amounts of public money on their vanity and comfort, and Labor wants families to see energy bills go down, and that’s the difference.”

Photo: Liz Truss traveled to Australia last week to speak to government officials

“For comparison, my first flight as a Secretary of State was on easyJet at 6am and we didn’t pay for express boarding,” Labor Standards Committee Chairman Chris Bryant added in a tweet.

Meanwhile, SNP environmental spokesman Deidre Brook said reports that Ms Truss is chartering a private jet to Australia would constitute a “heinous misuse of taxpayer money to fund her jet-set lifestyle”.

“With a track record like this, (Lavish Liz) would be a fitting successor to Boris Johnson,” she said.

The ministerial act states that ministers can authorize non-scheduled flights “when a scheduled service is not available, or when it is necessary to travel by air, but official business or parliamentary requirements or security considerations preclude a flight made by a fixed schedule.” “.

In relation to the claim, the Foreign Office said commercial flights to Australia at the time Ms Truss was traveling were fully booked and that using a normal commercial flight would have separated the Secretary of State from her protection team.

Photo: Angela Rayner said the report is evidence that conservatives are “wasting disgusting sums of public money on their egos and comfort.”

They said the private jet also gave Ms Truss the flexibility to return to the UK quickly if needed.

“It is essential that the Secretary of State travels abroad to pursue the UK’s interests on security, trade and technology, as she did during this visit to Australia,” a spokesperson said.

“Traveling in this way allows ministers to have private discussions on sensitive security issues and flexibility to respond to rapidly changing global events.

“This flight used government transportation and was completely within the rules.”

The Airbus A321, which Truss used on its flight, can only be used by the government.

The State Department added that all information about the flight will be put into the normal transparency statements.

Truss co-authored a policy paper Back to Black in 2009 in which she and others explained how: “Every public sector employee should feel personally responsible for the money they spend and the money they save.

“They should spend the taxpayer’s money with the care they would at least give their money.”

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