Liz Truss spent £15,000 of taxpayer money on catering during Australia flight

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Former prime minister Liz Truss spent greater than £15,000 on in-flight catering on a single flight to Australia whereas she was international secretary.

As revealed in a freedom of knowledge response to the Labour Social gathering, British taxpayers paid greater than £1,400 per head for 12 authorities officers on a single journey to Australia.

Catering for the Australia flights in January 2022 price £15,639 in whole, which was 3.4 per cent of the entire £454,626.59 price of the tickets, Politico reported.

The federal government mentioned the sums additionally embody wider logistics of operating a personal aeroplane, similar to catering gear, in addition to foods and drinks.

A spokesperson for Ms Truss informed The Impartial: “Liz had many tasks as international secretary, however it must be self-evident that organising the in-flight catering on abroad journeys was not amongst them.”

Catering for Ms Truss’ South East Asia journey in November 2021 totalled £12,742, which was 4.2 per cent of the general £300,545.39 flight price. One other go to to Indonesia in the summertime of 2022 price £5,604 in in-flight catering, which was £431 per head and 1.5 per cent of the entire £369,000 price.

Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry mentioned the figures confirmed ministers have been “decided to have their massively costly cake and eat it”.

She added politicians have been “reserving planes that are for them and them alone, ignoring the burden on the taxpayer, and detached to the price of dwelling disaster going through the remainder of the nation”.

The Mail on Sunday reported final yr that Ms Truss was contesting a £12,000 authorities invoice regarding her use of the grace-and-favour nation home on the Chevening property that she had entry to as international secretary.

Leaked correspondence, revealed by The Sunday Instances, disclosed that Ms Truss in 2022 had requested taxpayers’ money for a £3,000 lunch at a personal membership owned by a Tory donor, overruling her officers’ recommendation to go someplace extra appropriate.

The liberty of knowledge knowledge launched on Thursday additionally confirmed the in-flight catering invoice for Ms Truss’ predecessor Dominic Raab got here to £6,215 throughout a visit to Indonesia and Brunei in April 2021, and £7,625 for a go to to Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia in June of that yr.

In the meantime, catering for flights to Japan, South Korea and Singapore made by Ms Truss’ successor James Cleverly amounted to £14,900 — nearly 4 per cent of the general £384,160 flight price.

A authorities spokesperson mentioned: “The figures proven signify the end-to-end price of offering in-flight catering, together with transport, on-boarding/off-boarding, preparation, disposal in keeping with adherence to worldwide waste administration rules, and the required gear for these processes. These logistical components make up many of the price and are charged by the seller whatever the particular objects ordered or consumed.

“Catering in-flight is a monopoly for the seller and these prices would even be accrued on scheduled industrial flights. Nevertheless, they’re contained throughout the wider ‘all-inclusive’ reserving payment and never damaged down individually.

“Due to this fact the figures proven shouldn’t be conflated as precise expenditure on meals or drink. The substantive prices will relate to the switch of related catering gear, in the identical method for instance {that a} proportion of the price of a industrial flight will embody expenses for the transport of maintain baggage (whether or not itemised or inclusive).”

They added the flight prices are in keeping with previous precedent for all political events.

Ms Thornberry claimed personal flights had change into “the default possibility for ministers to do their abroad journey”, including: “If they’re decided to disregard the ministerial code by choosing authorities planes when industrial flights can be found, the least they need to be doing is taking alongside media or enterprise delegations to assist subsidize the associated fee.”