Editing Cash-strapped councils Lavished Tens Of Thousands Of Pounds On Foreign Jaunts Last Year - Including Business Class Flights To

Cash-strapped councils lavished tens of thousands of pounds on foreign jaunts last year - including business class flights to [/news/china/index.html China] and five-star hotels.<br>Despite warning they would face bankruptcy if they failed to cut services, town hall bosses spent £90,000 of public money on trips abroad.<br>It comes after the Local Government Association said councils need an extra £10billion to plug the funding gap and improve services.<br>Responses to Freedom of Information requests from 44 [http://www.dict.cc/?s=councils%20revealed councils revealed] the public footed the bill of £89,699.85 for overseas trips for officials.<br>Because the audit is based on only a fraction of local authorities, the true figure is certain to be much higher.<br>       Cash-strapped councils lavished tens of thousands of pounds on foreign jaunts last year - including business class flights to China and five-star hotels<br>Tory MP Ben Bradley hit out at the 'hypocrisy' of council bosses who claim they need more funding while spending money on 'jollies'.<br>The investigation was carried out jointly by the Mail and the Taxpayers' Alliance.<br><br>It showed that Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in Northern Ireland spent £23,000 on overseas trips last year, including £12,210 on business class flights to China.<br>Council tax-payers footed the bill for four staff and  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-cong-vien-khung-long-thanh-tu-son-3-ngay.html tour du lịch nam ninh] one elected official to spend five nights in the city of Leshan to attend the Sichuan International Travel Expo in September.<br>Minutes from a council meeting last year approving the trip estimated flights would cost £750 per person - but the cost was three times that because bosses opted for business class flights at £2,442 per head.<br>The council claimed the trip was intended to create 'international relations' between the two cities.<br>         Tory MP Ben Bradley (pictured) hit out at the 'hypocrisy' of council bosses who claim they need more funding while spending money on 'jollies'<br>Angus Council,  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-cong-vien-khung-long-thanh-tu-son-3-ngay.html tour du lịch nam ninh] in Scotland, spent £5,723 on foreign trips last year, including more than £2,300 on golf shows around the world.<br>The council spent £610 at the five-star Savoy Le Grand Marrakech in Morocco at £120 per night while a staff member attended the International Golf Travel Market in October last year.<br>A council spokesman said: 'Golf and golf tourism are hugely valuable to the local economy.'<br><div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS news" data-version="2" id="mol-94a1eaa0-2e9b-11eb-9bc5-f50c667c8838" website council lavished a fortune on overseas jaunts