End of the road for ministerial chauffeurs
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Senior ministers including William Hague and Andrew Lansley have lost their right to a full-time ministerial car and driver, it emerged yesterday.
In a written statement, the Department of Transport said it had cut the bill for ministerial cars from £6.7m to £3.8m. The cuts have left seven government departments including the Foreign Office, the Department of Health, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Climate Change with no official car. Strangely, however, the Wales Office and the Department for International Development kept their dedicated cars and drivers – long considered a perk of government. In total, the number of ministers with an allocated car and driver has fallen from 78 to 13.
Prime Minister David Cameron pledged to crack down on ministerial car costs as part of the Government's efforts to tackle the deficit.
Ministers without their own car now have access to a car pool rather than a dedicated vehicles and drivers. They can use the service for official business and travelling from home to the office "within reasonable distance of London".
All government members are encouraged to use public transport where possible and the latest figures show that no department has more than one full-time allocated car.
Critics have claimed that the sharp fall in spending on cars is offset in other ways, such as higher taxi costs.
The costs of official cars for Mr Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, were not included in the figures.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments