Thursday, April 30, 2009

Taxi for Jacqui Smith?

Conservative MP David Ruffley has just released figures which show that spending by the Home Office on taxis has risen by 3300% since Labour came to power. David Ruffley says..

My new figures show that over Labour’s eleven years there has been a thirty-three fold increase in Home Office expenditure on taxis – from £30,000 in 1997-98 to £1,045,671 in 2008-09. Over the last eleven years, the Home Office has spent over £5.6 million on taxi fares.

In the last 12 months to March 2009 alone the Home Office has increased its expenditure on taxi fares by 16%. From £900,000 in 2007/08 to £1,045,671 in 2008/09. With the country in recession this is utterly disgraceful. Home Office Ministers have obviously lost control of their budgets and are incapable of getting money to the policing frontline where it matters.

I am struggling to understand why Home Office Ministers are not clamping down on what they spend on taxis. Surely as new technology allows for meetings to be held over the internet or by conference call – less money should be spent on taxis, not more.

Taxi for Ms Smith anyone?

25 comments:

Cassius said...

This could be solved very simply if Blockbuster were to start delivering top shelf videos.

At present, I understand you have to collect them.

strapworld said...

Iain,

It is in the rules!

Anonymous said...

They are a shameful bunch of human beings who are taking the pee out of the public in a blatant way. It's brilliant that they are being exposed for the scum we all know they are. GOOD! Now call the bloody election, get them out!!

Anonymous said...

I mean, its a pattern, Labour have just become like those wives shopping with their husbands company credit cards.

Spend, spend spend and be damned who's paying for it.

Get a bus or train like the rest of us.

Nikostratos said...

Thats a lot of London Cab Drivers being kept in employment.Perhaps you should keep out of taxis for a while
or wear a disguise.

on the other hand perhaps none of them ever read your Blog...Ooh! nasty

Anonymous said...

I have just caught a snippet of a joint press conference between brown and, well, some Iraqi politician.

It was noticeable that the lecterns did not have the usual 'Number10.com' logo. I wonder why?

Not that its not a bad thing. The logo was/is naff to say the least.

Not a sheep said...

Labour Ministers have no shame, it will take more than this to rid us of Jacqui Smith. And if she does go, could we really subject some pupils in a school somewhere to Home Economics teaching from such as her?

oracle3001 said...

Wonder how many weekly Taxis to / from Redditch there have been and how much they have cost?

Dino Fancellu said...

That is a stunning increase, even by normal standards of Labour profligacy.

Dave should ask about this at next PMQs,
it is Labour prudence writ large.

Alix said...

She's scared of London, innit. The HO now has its culture set by someone who thinks "normal people" don't walk around in London at night.

Alan Smart said...

"Bus for the lot of them"

Anonymous said...

We should also find out how much BBC spends for ferrying people-presenters, guests etc.. in London Black Taxis and elsewhere to BBC studios. We pay for this through license fee.

Old Holborn said...

Assuming the Home Office works 220 days a year, like most offices, that's £4753 A DAY on Taxis.

sinosimon said...

for this reason, and so man7 others, including the gurkha debacle

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/smithshame/

Unsworth said...

It's all those late night cabs going South of the River to Peckham for a kebab and then on to Nunhead that rack the bills up.

Blackacre said...

My wife works for the Home Office and has to troop on the train between the two offices at which she regularly works as she is not allowed taxis. So, this is not a scam across the department and should be controlled by line managers I suspect.

PIENOMICS said...

Oor Jacqui should be manacled with bath plug chains,dragged out of the Home Office à la John Sergeant and left on the pavement where we can all watch her fate on the CCTV cameras so beloved by Labour.

Anonymous said...

What a waste of money. I wonder what percentage of that cost was for legitimate govt travel.

25% max at the most.

Receipts?

Bill d'Sarse said...

Was any of this business given to Quick Taxis?

Have the details of which companies were used been issued?

Cynic said...

Its quantitative easing to support a key electoral group

Cynic said...

Ah yes. No remind me. How much did they spend on Art for Marsham street when they don't even own the bloody place?

Chris Paul said...

Do you perchance have any data for the cost of pool cars, chauffeurs, essential car user allowances, etc then and now?

If £1M for taxis is cheaper than £1.1M for pool cars etc we're getting a bargain. There is never even close to enough data in these anecdotal observations.

Anonymous said...

Much as I loath to defend the Home Office, even though they pay my salary. Quite a large chunk of the taxi bill is for Immigration Officers in UKBA who have to get in for work at 4 AM or leave work after midnight when there is no public transport.

Anonymous said...

"If £1M for taxis is cheaper than £1.1M for pool cars etc we're getting a bargain."

As has already been stated - they could use public transport. 1 million for taxis or 1 million for pool cars is the same thing - a total waste of public money.

As usual, you left wing Dorftrotteln try to deflect from the case in point - that the Zanu Labour misadministration is wasting money that would be far better spent on public services for normal citizens rather than the high life your beloved champagne socialists.

Anonymous said...

Jacqui Smith.

I swear, she should put a little heart above the "i", instead of a dot.

Does anybody know how this loser got elected?