Taxpayers foot MPs junket to South Pacific 'to investigate climate change'

A group of politicians spent tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money flying to the South Pacific to investigate the impact of climate change, it has been disclosed.

By Andrew HoughPublished: 7:00AM BST 28 Sep 2009
The six members of parliament and two peers spent 16 days in the South Pacific last month as part of a “fact finding” mission.
The estimated cost to taxpayers to send the group, who flew business class to Fiji via Australia, was at least £68,200, the Channel 4 Dispatches programme said.

Critics labelled the junket “inappropriate and unnecessary” with the long-haul flights and local travel leaving a hefty carbon footprint.
Those who took the trip were Labour MPs Jim Sheridan, Betty Williams, Neil Turner, Meg Munn and Colin Challen, who were joined by Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Roper of Thorney Island and the Labour peer Lord Lea of Crondall.
Two staff members from the Commonwealth Paliamentary Association UK Two CPA staff members also travelled with the group.
According to the programme, which airs on Monday night, the flights cost £6,300 each and hotel bills for Fiji alone – where the group stayed in a five-star resort were expected to be at least £5,200.
During their time in the South Pacific the group also embarked on whale watching, enjoyed a £1000 dinner in Tonga and lunched on a paradise island where the Channel 4 reality series Shipwrecked was filmed.
The group also visited Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and Tuvalu as part of their mission, with the Third World Countries picking up part of the cost.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group said: “People back home are struggling to pay the bills, never mind being able to travel around the world and it sticks in people's throats when they see politicians jetting off at taxpayers' expense.”
The trip was one of several identified by the programme, which said it had spent months investigating MPs trips.
It said over the past two months alone, around 100 MPs have travelled to 15 countries at an estimated cost to the public purse of £750,000.
The CPA told the programme the trip was “probably the most effective way of discussing these important issues” and insisted the trips were “extremely hard work”.
A CPA UK spokesman added: “Ask our hosts if this was an important visit in the context of the challenges they face in mitigating the effects of climate change.
“You can only really help if you go out there.”