The Times: Outcry over Essex Conservative councillors’ £62,000 US trip

David Brown

It may be 4,000 miles away but when Jamestown, Virginia, celebrated the 400th anniversary of English settlement it was only natural that Essex sent a delegation to the festivities.

The Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield, the leader of the council, led eight fellow politicians and five senior members of staff on the £62,000 transatlantic trip. The group flew business class, spent more than £7,000 on accommodation during the six-day trip and £4,573 on hospitality.

When they returned to Britain the group announced that the trip had boosted business in the county by introducing two companies to each other – both of which are actually based in Essex.

A freedom of information request has revealed that costs of the trip spiralled by more than £40,000 after their business-class flights to the United States were cancelled.

The party was booked on the business class-only airline MAXjet, which flew from Stansted, but eventually flew business class with other airlines. Rearranged outward flights cost an additional £25,640, return flights a further £13,829 and an extra £2,467 was required for accommodation.

The visit was supposed to cost less than £25,000 but the final bill came to nearly £62,000, according to figures obtained by the Echo newspaper in Basildon. The Tory-controlled council said that it has since recovered the additional costs.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is a gross waste of taxpayers’ money. Essex residents pay their taxes for frontline services, but while those services struggle senior politicians seem happy to swan off abroad.

“This junket is of minimal importance compared with sweeping the streets, policing the county and providing care for the vulnerable. Councillors should stop and think before going to every event they are invited to and expecting the taxpayer to pick up the tab.”

Paul Kirkman, the Labour group leader, who was on the trip, insisted that the journey was worthwhile. “We need to forge appropriate links across the world. I was working out there representing the people of Essex,” he told the Echo. “If we can introduce businesses to one another across the Atlantic then it is worthwhile.”

Lord Hanningfield, a leading opponent of the expansion of Stansted airport, said that the trip was about more than just celebrating the anniversary. “The county council wanted to use the interest generated by the Jamestown anniversary to create trade and business links between Essex and Virginia,” he said. “We also wanted to encourage more American tourists to explore their Essex heritage.” The council has said that the trip helped to introduce Shergroup, a legal and financial services group, to the telecommunications company MultipartyTalk, which have since entered a business deal. Shergroup is based in Braintree and MultipartyTalk 15 miles away in Colchester.

Eleri Roberts, county council spokeswoman, said: “Essex has very strong links – more of the original settlers came from Essex than from any other county and Christopher Newport, captain of the 1607 expedition, came from Harwich.”

Cost of festivities

£24,860 Intended cost of six-day trip to Jamestown, Virginia, by members of Essex County Council

£61,950 What it actually cost

£4,425 Cost per head for nine councillors and five council staff

Comments

[Paul]

£1775.71 for return Business flights, five/six nights in (no doubt) 4-star hotel, and hospitality? Can you give me the name of their travel agent?