- Thursday, February 13, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
British prime minister Rishi Sunak, who has come under criticism in the past over his expensive properties, has found himself at the receiving end once again, this time for taking private jet trips worth almost £500,000 in just over a week last year.
The opposition lashed out at the Conservative leader saying he was out of touch and could not lead on green issues after government data revealed the information.
According to a report by The Guardian, a cabinet office document on overseas prime ministerial travel in the third quarter of 2022 showed spending of just under £108,000 on a private jet trip to and from COP27 summit in Egypt — flying in on November 6 and returning the next day.
Again, a week later, Sunak went to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, and returned from there on November 17. The round trip to the southeast Asian Nation was worth £340,000, the report added.
In December, the 42-year-old prime minister, who took office on October 25 last year, made a day trip to Latvia and Estonia to visit troops and that trip cost over £62,000.
The period also includes an official overseas trip during the brief tenure of Sunak’s immediate predecessor Liz Truss, during which she took a private jet to a meeting in Prague in the Czech Republic and that cost nearly £40,000.
The Liberal Democrats blasted the Conservative government, saying in a tweet, “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.”
This is a shocking waste of taxpayer’s money at a time when most people are struggling to pay their bills or put food on the table.
Yet again this Conservative government is completely out of touch. pic.twitter.com/3BvtyLdhj8
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) March 31, 2023
Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats’ energy and climate spokesperson said while the government pretends to care about a greener future with its “so-called ‘green day'”, the reality is that it is trashing the promises that it itself made, The Guardian report added.
The cabinet office expenses document also showed that nearly another £20,000 was spent on other costs for the premiers, including accommodation, meals and visas.
This excludes the expenses for officials who also joined the prime ministers on the trips. The delegates’ teams could vary in size — from 19 who went with Truss to Prague to 35 who were with Sunak in Bali.
A spokesperson at Downing Street defended the flights saying the role of the premier includes holding key meetings with world leaders during bilateral visits and summits to discuss issues that are of international significance — from security, defence to trade, The Guardian report added.
