Rishi Sunak has been accused of wasting taxpayers’ money and making a mockery of the government’s strategy for tackling the climate crisis, after chartering a second private jet for a UK trip within a week.
The prime minister took a roughly 90-minute ride in an RAF plane to Scotland for a two-day visit, where he held a meeting with the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and announced the opening of two new freeports.
Both leaders met in Inverness, before Sunak headed to nearby Port of Cromarty Firth to mark the announcement about plans for a green freeport there. He headed back to Downing Street on Friday afternoon.
The round-trip, coming days after Sunak took another RAF flight 200 miles on a 14-seater plane to Leeds, led Labour to accuse him of developing “an expensive habit of swanning around on private jets courtesy of the taxpayer”.
Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, said the prime minister should personally explain why he “saw fit to commandeer a prized plane described as critical to UK security”.
She added: “As well as making a mockery of his government’s own ‘zero-jet strategy’, it exposes a desperately out-of-touch prime minister leaving the public paying the price for his poor judgment and wasteful behaviour.”
Rayner accused the Conservatives of spending taxpayers’ money “with reckless abandon”, and vowed Labour would treat it “with the respect it deserves”.
Criticism about the cost of the flight also came from the Liberal Democrats. Daisy Cooper, the party’s deputy leader, said the cost of such a flight proved how “out of touch” Sunak was.
She said: “What does he have to say to all those commuters who didn’t have the option to take a private jet to work when his government failed to get the strikes called off?”
No 10 defended the prime minister’s use of a plane, instead of driving or taking the train. Sunak’s spokesperson said decisions about the PM’s transport were based on “the best use of his time and taxpayer-funding”.
They added: “In this instance his travelling by plane allowed him to have that meeting last night with the first minister and you are aware of his other meetings … We always look at [environmental] issues when deciding prime ministerial transportation. I point to what he was able to do last night in Scotland.”
The vast majority of people believe it is wrong for cabinet ministers to use private jets to travel within the country, according to a recent poll by YouGov with 4,950 responses.
It found 77% believed it was inappropriate, while 16% said it was appropriate. Among Conservative voters, 76% disagreed with the idea while 23% supported it.
