Labour would clamp down on jet use by ministers

A Labour government would curb the use of "private jets" by ministers, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said.

Ms Reeves attacked Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's "private jet habit" in her speech to Labour's conference.

She said Labour would enforce ministerial rules on the use of private aircraft for official trips to "save millions of pounds for taxpayers".

Her announcement comes after the BBC revealed how often the prime minister took flights on RAF planes in the UK.

An RAF division - known as 32 Squadron - operates two Dassault Falcon 900LX executive jets and a helicopter to transport the PM and other ministers within the UK.

Mr Sunak boarded one of the squadron's aircraft every eight days on average during his first seven months in office, according to Ministry of Defence data obtained through freedom of information requests.

That meant Mr Sunak had used RAF aircraft for domestic flights more frequently than the UK's previous three prime ministers.

Mr Sunak has defended his use of domestic flights, arguing air travel is the "most effective use of my time".

But opposition parties and climate campaigners have accused Mr Sunak of hypocrisy for flying short journeys domestically, given his pledges to curb planet-warming carbon emissions.

The Ministry of Defence told the BBC it "does not routinely calculate the full cost of any individual flight" taken by ministers in the UK.

In her speech, Ms Reeves focused on the cost of ministerial travel, both at home and abroad.

The prime minister sometimes has access to an RAF Voyager plane for overseas trips, and the government also charters private flights on aircraft operated by Titan Airways.

The ministerial code states that "non-scheduled flights" may be used by ministers only when "a scheduled service is not available, or when it is essential to travel by air".

Ms Reeves said Labour would enforce this section of the code if the party won power as part of a "war" against fraud, waste and inefficiency.

Labour says according to government data, the total cost of non-scheduled flights for all secretaries of states and prime ministers up to Mr Sunak was almost £5m in 2022/23.

The party says ministers are taking too many non-scheduled flights at "extortionate cost".

"We will enforce the ministerial code on the use of private planes and save millions of pounds for taxpayers in the process," Ms Reeves told the conference audience.

She said the crackdown on ministerial flights was one of "three further fronts in Labour's war on waste".

Labour would slash spending on consultants and "go after" those who profited from the "carnival of waste" during the Covid pandemic, the shadow chancellor said.

The party would also appoint an anti-corruption commissioner aimed at recovering money lost as a result of fraud and waste.