House of Commons’ champagne bill goes up and up despite austerity
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Version 0 of 1. Budgets are tight, but champagne consumption in Westminster appears immune to austerity measures. New figures uncovered by the Huffington Post UK show that there has been a substantial rise in the number of bottles of bubbly ordered by the House of Commons since the current coalition has been in power. This tax year the catering services at Westminster bought 8,082 bottles of the luxury tipple, a 72 per cent increase from the 4,691 bottles purchased in 2010. The rise has been a steady one, with approximately 1000 more bottles ordered in each year. The total cost of stocking the House of Commons with champagne has added up to £275,221 since 2010. This bought Westminster over 25,000 bottles, which MPs and their staff are able to buy at a rate subsidised by the taxpayer. A spokesperson for the House of Commons attributed the rising champagne consumption to an increased number of reception events. "The increasing trend is to sell more receptions than dinner events which attract a higher number of guests and is the reason for increased consumption and sales in alcohol. To accommodate this increase in demand, banqueting has increased its order of champagne stocks.” Earlier this year Metro published anonymous complaints made by MPs about the on-site subsidised catering services. These included concerns about the "embarrassing" lack of Martini and a request for "more fresh game" to be introduced to the menu. |