Plaid conference starts as Assembly faces car use controversy
Thursday, 10 September 2009 12:01 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
Plaid Cymru meet for their annual conference today as figures reveal ministers almost doubled their car mileage in a year.
Figures released by the Conservatives reveal the Labour-Plaid administration spent £216,461 on drivers' wages in 2008/09, compared to £144,190 in the previous year.
They also clocked up almost 4,100 miles a week - nearly double the amount in 2007/08.
The news is particularly embarrassing for the party as their guest speaker for the conference is celebrated environmentalist George Monbiot.
Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne said: "The role of government is surely to lead by example. In this instance Labour and Plaid Cymru are guilty of a classic case of do as we say, not as we do.
"When will they learn that the Assembly does not have a bottomless pit of money from which they can plunder resources to pay for their own self-aggrandisement?
"Ministers can't expect the public to heed their calls to cut car use when their own fuel costs are rising, driver salaries have rocketed, and mileage has doubled."
No one from Plaid Cymru was available for comment today. However, earlier, a spokesman from the assembly government told the BBC : "It is partly due to the rise in the number of ministers, a greater geographical spread of ministers and an increase in duties resulting from the Government of Wales Act."
The Plaid Cymru conference runs until Saturday 12th in Llandudno.
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