Chris Huhne spends £46,000 on chauffeur-driven cars and taxis in just 6 months
Last updated at 12:11 AM on 4th June 2011
Chris Huhne blew more than £46,000 on chauffeur-driven cars and taxis during his first year in office.
The Lib Dem climate change minister, already in trouble after he allegedly got his ex-wife to take the rap for a speeding offence, racked up the huge bill even though his department is supposed to promote 'green' travel, such as rail.
The spending, which works out at £177 per weekday, does not include the travel of officials and advisers, just Mr Huhne's own car journeys.
The four ministers in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which he runs, ran up a total bill of more than £176,000 since they took office last May.
At that time David Cameron demanded that ministers use environmentally-friendly – and cheaper – public transport as much as possible.
The Prime Minister made a big play of his pledge to scrap ministerial cars, replacing a huge stand-by fleet with cars hired as necessary, saying it would save millions of pounds.
Within weeks of the General Election he published a new ministerial code, telling ministers to use public transport where practicable.
Last September he told the Daily Mail: 'If there is something that really annoys people, it's seeing politicians swanning around in chauffeur-driven cars like they're the Royal Family.
'There is no need for 171 of these cars to be on hand for every government minister, whip – and indeed, myself. In these economic times, when everyone is making their own sacrifice, this number cannot be justified.'
Mr Huhne's department said car travel costs had been cut by 40 per cent, but campaigners said that was not enough.
Some of the ministerial journeys were by taxi, but most were cars hired from the Government car pool or private car hire firm Green Tomato, which runs environmentally-friendly 'hybrid' cars.
The figures were revealed by Labour's transport spokesman Maria Eagle, who asked the department a parliamentary question.
In the six months between May, when the Coalition took over, and September last year, Mr Huhne spent £46,194 on taxis and private hire vehicles.
Two junior ministers racked up even more: Gregory Barker's bill was £47,650 and Charles Hendry's was £48,895, while Lord Marland spent a relatively modest £34,021.
The total of £176,760 would fund the wages of eight nurses over the same period.
Last night Miss Eagle said Mr Huhne's spending showed that Mr Cameron's words were having little effect.
'It's clear that the Prime Minister's talk of getting ministers out of their limos and on to public transport was just hot air,' she added.
'While the rest of the country are facing sky-high fare increases and the loss of their local bus services, out-of-touch ministers still prefer the comfort of their cars to using public transport.'
Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Getting rid of ministerial cars was supposed to save money but it's starting to look as if there is more spin than substance to this pledge.
'The cars were an outdated perk that needed to be scrapped, and it was a step in the right direction to do it, but the savings should be much bigger and there needs to be a broader effort to cut the use of chauffeur-driven cars.
'Huhne needs to show that he's practising what he preaches when it comes to the environment, and should reduce taxi and private car hire use to save taxpayers' money. Simply being photographed getting out of a Prius as a token gesture isn't enough.'
A spokesman for the Department for Energy and Climate Change said:
'Ministers no longer have personal cars, but getting to and from official engagements does still often require the use of hire cars.
'The changes we made during 2010/11 led to a reduction in spending of more than 40 per cent on the previous financial year.
'The vast majority of cars used are low emission hybrid vehicles.'
Source; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ds-newsxml
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