Angela Rayner defends own expenses after criticism of government’s ‘lavish spending’ culture – UK politics live

Latest updates: Labour deputy leader says her expenses were necessary for work and accuses government of wasting taxpayer’s money

Good morning. Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has denied that her decision to expense hundreds of pounds on Apple electronics is the same as Whitehall’s use of government procurement cards on luxury items.

Labour claimed that a “lavish spending” culture in the civil service has seen taxpayer’s money wasted on fine art and fine dining.

Today’s shocking revelations lift the lid on a scandalous catalogue of waste, with taxpayers’ money frittered away across every part of government, while in the rest of the country, families are sick with worry about whether their pay cheque will cover their next weekly shop or the next tranche of bills.

I don’t think the £1,600 on that is the same as millions of pounds that is being used on these credit cards in an inappropriate way. You know, we need to make sure there’s transparency and that the public are getting value for money.

I can absolutely justify my use of using electronic equipment to do my job, especially when I’m not – during the pandemic – when I wasn’t in the office in Westminster. And as I say, now I’m speaking to you on that very iPad that was purchased.