Yahoo News More than £80k spent on taxis after Senior Tory gave up ministerial car
The secretary of state for Wales has defended his office spending over £80,000 on taxis. David TC Davies gave up his ministerial car when he took over as secretary of state in 2022. He says he did this along with several other measures such as banning alcohol in the Wales Office after the party gate scandal.
Mr Davies argues that the decision to scrap the ministerial car in London has saved the taxpayer around £100,000 a year. However Welsh Labour MS Hefin David pointed out on X, formerly known as Twitter, that substantial amounts of public money is now been spent on taxis. For the latest analysis of the biggest stories, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
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How much has been spent on taxis?
Since Mr Davies took over his role the Wales Office has spent over £82,000 on taxis to transport himself, junior minister Fay Jones and senior officials around. This comes from official UK Government spending documents.
What does Mr Davies say?
When WalesOnline approached Mr Davies he said: "When I took over there was a ministerial car costing the taxpayer £8,000 a month. I got rid of that though there was a three-month notice period we had to give.
"Since then I catch the train, use the tube and drive myself where possible. There are times when it is necessary for me to use a taxi. For example I often travel to rural parts of Wales for meetings and visits and then have to be in London straight after for further meetings.
"These locations are often inaccessible by public transport and I do not drive myself on these occasions because I need to be mentally alert when I attend the meeting. When possible I always catch the train. The money spent on taxis is spread across myself and the minister in the department."
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