The eye-watering £1.8 million credit card bill run up by the Welsh Labour government is exposed today, revealing how jet-setting civil servants are travelling the globe in 5*luxury while taxpayers pick up the tab. In total, £1,838,679 was spent on Welsh Government credit cards in 2016-17, up from £1.4 million last year. The extraordinary litany of waste would not look out of place on the bank statement of a Hollywood A-lister, but instead the extravagances are enjoyed by faceless Cardiff bureaucrats:

• £203,644 was spent on flights;
• £110,889 went on 4* and 5* luxury hotels;
• When events are included, the hotel bill rises to £141,880, including a whopping £14,480 on exhibitions in the 5* Shanghai Peace Hotel;
• £1876 went on on limousines;
• £5418 was spent on Uber;
• £3,028 was spent on yachting and boating;
• £8604 was spent on luxury dining – with £1,652 alone being spent on 7 visits to the Michelin-starred James Sommerin Restaurant in Penarth (6 course taster menu £70, rising to £110 with wine; 9 course tasting menu is £90, rising to £150 with wine; the cheapest main course is £17 and the Welsh Lamb is £26);
• £359 went on Nom Nom Chocolate, where a single bar costs £4.50;
• £110 was spent on iTunes,

Shadow Finance Secretary, Nick Ramsay, said:

“The bill for Welsh Government credit cards is out of control. The purpose of these cards is to reduce the bureaucratic cost of processing small claims – not to make it easy to splash the cash with impunity in lavish restaurants and boutique hotels. Worryingly, since 2011, staff in the Welsh Labour Government have racked up over £9 million in credit card bills and it’s time for the system to be thoroughly investigated by the Auditor General.”

Welsh Labour is presiding over a bonfire of taxpayers’ cash…