Rishi Sunak travelled to Leeds by jet plane for hospital visit

Sunak recently told Cop27 it was ‘morally right’ that Britain honours its climate change commitments

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been pictured boarding a 14-passenger jet to Leeds, to visit a local hospital.

According to the official Number 10 Flickr, Sunak travelled on the RAF plane to Rutland Lodge Medical Practice in Chapel Allerton on Monday, to meet staff and patients with social care minister Helen Whately.

If travelling from central London, the 200-mile journey would have taken around two and a half hours by train.

The Envoy IV CC plane became operational in March 2022 to transport “priority military personnel and small items of mission critical freight to, from and within operational areas.”

During a similar display of extravagance in May last year, then-Chancellor was branded “out of touch” after reportedly paying more than £10,000 to fly by private helicopter to a Tory dinner in Wales.

Sunak was said to have shelled out of his own pocket for the round-trip from Battersea heliport in London to the Conservative conference event in Newtown, Powys.

In July of last year, the British government set out a new “net zero aviation” policy.

The “Jet Zero strategy” committed UK domestic aviation to achieving net zero emissions by 2040, and pledged to help consumers make sustainable aviation choices.

At the time, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he wanted 2019 to be remembered as the peak year for aviation emissions.

“From now on, it should all be downhill for carbon emissions – and steadily uphill for green flights.”

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, commenting on the Prime Minister flying to Yorkshire yesterday on a RAF jet, said families will be rightly angered by this show of extravagance by Rishi Sunak.