Labour will stop ministers taking private jets when they could fly with public
Rachel Reeves today will promise to clamp down on ministers using private jets when they could get a regular flight.
Following her Labour conference speech this morning she said she wants “people to say ‘I can trust her with my money’.”
In an interview with the Mirror, she said: “I will give the commitment that with Labour I will treat taxpayers' money with the same respect that people treat their own money. You haven't had that from this government whether it was the Covid contracts signed off by Rishi Sunak when billions went in fraud or ministers going around on private jets rather than on normal flights.”
During his time in Downing Street so far, Mr Sunak has used private jets and helicopters to zip around the UK more than any other Prime Minister. The PM has taken one flight every eight days on average. Many of the journeys have been incredibly short, such as when he used a helicopter to visit Southampton, which would have taken just over an hour by train.
In the year to March, the total cost of non-scheduled flights for ministers including the PM £4.7million.
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Ms Reeves, 44, told how she learned the value of money as a child growing up in South East London, saying: “When I was little I saw my mum every month go through her bank statement with her receipts. She kept all her receipts and she'd go through and tick it all off against the bank statement. We were not poor, but money mattered. And every penny mattered to my mum.”
Asked if she is annoyed that she is painted by some as a penny pincher holding the purse strings tightly closed, she said: “I want people to know they can trust me with their money. If that upsets some people that I'm not willing to empty the vaults then so be it. What people want to know is that you've got a Chancellor who's going to get a firm grip on the public finances and who focuses day in day out and how to make working people better off.
“Not through some sugar rush, which you get with the Tories, but with a serious plan to grow the economy, but grow the economy in a way that benefits ordinary working people.”
The party conference in Liverpool is expected to be the last before the next general election. Polls give Labour a significant lead over the Tories, putting Ms Reeves on course to move into No11 as the country’s first female chancellor.
Asked what motivates her, she said it is knowing the difference Labour would make compared to the current government. “It makes me so angry because there is so much potential in this country,” she replied. “I see the damage that they've done to our public services in a way that is even worse than what they did in the 80s and 90s. I'm determined that Labour wins the next election because we can't do anything from opposition. And then we can start to turn around this mess that they've made.”
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