MPs' £275,000 wine and champagne bill

MPs' £275,000 wine and champagne bill

The House of Commons has spent £275,000 over the past two years on taxpayer-subsidised wine and champagne.

The Commons wine cellar was filled with 44,000 bottles for MPs and their staff to enjoy in the Palace of Westminster’s unlicensed bars and restaurants
.

It includes £28,000 on 1,838 bottles of champagne and £11,100 on 1,470 bottles of sparkling wine.

The wine was bought by the House of Commons catering and retail service, which has received a state subsidy of £11.5m over the past two years.

It amounts to a top-up of 42 per cent - meaning the taxpayer contribution to the wine bill was the equivalent of £115,000, or £176 per MP.

No fewer than 69 different wines were bought, including 47 bottles of the highly-rated Chateau de Fonbel 2003, at a cost of £932; 144 bottles of Joseph Drouhin Cote de Nuits-Villages, costing £1,854; and 204 bottles of Sancerre Domaine de Raimbault, costing £2,455.

The authorities also spent more than £40,000 on 7,300 bottles of sauvignon blanc and £24,000 on 5,000 bottles of Merlot.

The taxpayer subsidy means MPs can enjoy drinks at prices far lower than those found in high street wine bars, with wine from £2.35 a glass.

Concerns have been raised over Parliament’s drinking culture. Last year Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes, said some MPs are too drunk to stand up in debates and have “no idea” what they are voting for.

Matthew Sinclair, Director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "In most workplaces a subsidised bar would be unthinkable. It is particularly unfair when politicians have been making it steadily more expensive for the rest of us to enjoy a drink with ever higher taxes. This needs to end."

A Commons spokesman said wines are sold to MPs for more than the wholesale purchase price. “The prices of wines sold in the House of Commons bars and restaurants are broadly in line with those charged in local pubs and restaurants,” he said.

Comment: It is time to put an end to this fiddle!