A Conservative MP has defended Rishi Sunak’s decision to take a 28-minute flight across England for the second time in as many weeks.
The prime minister flew on an RAF jet from Northolt to Blackpool to start a series of visits in northern England linked to an announcement on new levelling up funding.
He then went on to make a 28-minute trip from Blackpool to Teesside International Airport in Darlington.
They were the latest in a series of short trips by air for the PM, having gone by plane to both Leeds and Scotland last week.
Labour has accused Sunak of “jetting around the country on taxpayers’ money like an A-list celeb” and making a “mockery” of his environmental strategy with the short flights.
A train journey from London Euston to Blackpool takes less than three hours, with a single fare coming in at £73.40, or £189.80 to travel during peak hours. First class could cost £257.
But Tory MP Mark Jenkinson defended Sunak’s jet use, saying “he’s the Prime Minister, multiple train changes with a security detail and unreliable” Avanti West Coast trains “would be madness”.
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