The Taxpayer shelled out £757,000 on transport for Ed Miliband last year, amounting to £63,000 a month. The money was used in part to chauffeur Miliband around the country in his desperate bid to sure up his leadership.
Miliband is entitled to publicly funded transport in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons. During his first year in the job he spent just over £600k but since then costs have gone up.
The figures, revealed by the Daily Mail, are in stark contrast to the costs incurred by other political leaders. Nigel Farage was attacked before Christmas for spending £60k a year on his chauffeur, but this was funded by UKIP at no cost to the taxpayer. UKIP also pay for his personal protection following a number of incidents when he was attacked by opposition groups.
Similarly Conservative Stephen Crabb got rid of the official car used by the previous Welsh Secretary when he was appointed to the post last year. Eric Pickles has also cut the Communities and Local Government department spending on ministerial transport from £488k during the final year of the Labour government to £191k last year.
Labour have been trying to claim government ministers are on the gravy train because of their transport costs. However, the party were left red faced in 2011 when they were caught removing First Class signs before an interview on a train with Miliband. At the time Tory MP Greg Hands told the Evening Standard: “This is a first class cover up by Red Ed. He’s happy to travel in luxury but doesn’t want people to know about it.
“So much for honest politics in the Labour party.”
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