Doncaster MP Ed Miliband's department spent £43,000 of taxpayer cash 'redecorating office'

Eleven of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour front bench splashed out a total of £130,000 on TVs, furniture and decorations despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves ‘war on waste,” the Daily Telegraph reported.

It said that Mr Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, was the highest spender, racking up a £43,000 bill for renovation that was footed by the taxpayer.

Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, who has backed more working from home for civil servants, spent £16,000 on refurbishing offices outside of London.

It comes after the Chancellor, vowed to take an “iron fist” to government waste and challenged Whitehall to find 5 per cent efficiency savings across departments.

Ms Reeves has ordered each department to submit a line-by-line breakdown of its spending so she can “crack down on non-priority spending”.

The new figures on office refurbishments came to light after Sir Ashley Fox, a Conservative MP, challenged the Government over the costs.

He said: “It’s a shame that the Chancellor didn’t use her ‘iron fists’ to squash departmental waste before her ministerial colleagues spent £130,000 on redecorating their offices.

“Free-Gear Keir has set the culture from the top, and the members of this Government are clearly more concerned with spending taxpayer money on themselves than they are looking for savings.”

Asked if such spending was excessive, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said it was “up to departments” to identify where they can make savings.

“They’ll be able to look line-by-line, make sure every pound of government spending is being focused and delivering on the plan for change,” he said.

Almost half of government departments including the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence registered zero spending on refurbishments.

The Cabinet Office said spending at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was “higher than usual” because the department was given an extra minister by Sir Keir Starmer.

At the Ministry of Justice almost all of the £13,300 cost was spent on work like repainting walls, rewiring rooms and installing new electrical sockets.