Truss spends £500,000 on private jet to Australia

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View online January 28, 2022   1 / Liz Truss flew by private jet to Australia at cost of £500,000 to taxpayers Foreign secretary Liz Truss flew by private jet to Australia at a cost of over half a million pounds to the taxpayer, rather than using scheduled flights that would have been faster and far cheaper.   Instead of travelling from London to Sydney on one of the daily Qantas departures, Ms Truss flew the 22,000 miles to, from and within Australia aboard the private government Airbus A321.   The Ministerial Code makes clear that only the foreign secretary could authorise such a flight.   2 / Rebels fear delays to Partygate report will give Boris Johnson time to spin it in his favour Launch of police investigation into alleged lockdown breaches has knocked inquiry off schedule   3 / Sunak's cost-of-living plan would hand tax break to top earners Levelling up? Tory plan to cut council tax payments would benefit a quarter of the UK's highest-paid people while not helping millions on low incomes   4 / Deadly attack by soldier fuels conspiracy theories in nervy Ukraine Within hours of the fatal shooting, social media was ablaze with reasons for the attack, reports Kim Sengupta in Kharkiv     5 / Boris Johnson again denies he ordered Afghan animal airlift as fresh emails emerge New evidence suggests No 10 involved in evacuation discussion The Big Question     Could the government still scrap its proposed National Insurance hike? Boris Johnson has again fuelled speculation that he could be about to scrap the National Insurance rise planned for April.   The prime minister is coming under intense pressure to ditch or delay the 2.5 per cent increase, split between employees and employers, with reports suggesting many Tory backbenchers are making it a condition of their support in the expected confidence vote on his leadership, which is widely expected to follow the delivery of Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray's highly-anticipated report into the "Partygate" scandal.    Pressure on chancellor Rishi Sunak to drop the rise heightened after official figures this week showed a £13bn windfall from lower-than-expected borrowing. Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg are meanwhile understood to be among those urging him to use the additional leeway to ease pressure on households facing a cost-of-living crisis. So will it still go ahead? Read the full story >   Watch / Katie Price launches OnlyFans channel to 'be in control' NUMBER OF THE DAY 40% Using green urban space in towns and cities, people in the UK could grow almost 40 per cent of the fruit and vegetables we consume, according to a new study. QUOTE OF THE DAY "Flying to Australia and back on a chartered jet is shockingly privileged and an outrageous source of emissions in the current climate emergency." –    Anna Hughes, director of Flight Free UK, reacts to the revelation foreign secretary Liz Truss flew by private jet to Australia at a cost of over half-a-million pounds to the taxpayer. Other stories you might like Man vapes and sings in dock as he's jailed for harassing Sir Chris Whitty Liz Truss given February deadline by DUP to fix protocol Sean and Dylan Penn on Flag Day: 'It did feel like going through therapy' Articles available exclusively to subscribers May Bulman, The Independent: The 'success' of the EU settlement scheme is not quite what it seems If you can spare a minute we'd love your feedback on our newsletters.     Join the conversation or follow us Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's Morning Headlines newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders.   If you do not want to receive The Independent's Morning Headlines newsletter, please unsubscribe.   If you no longer wish to receive any newsletters or promotional emails from The Independent, you can unsubscribe here.   This e-mail was sent by Independent Digital News and Media Ltd, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF. Registered in England and Wales with company number 07320345. Read our privacy notice and cookie policy.