Tory ministers drank their way through £50k of top notch wine from their cellar last year, figures show
Amount was down by a third compared to the previous year because of the general election
TOP ministers guzzled nearly £50,000 of top notch booze from the Westminster cellar last year, figures today revealed.
Politicians and their guests necked 3,730 bottles, with the average cost per bottle £12.66.
English and Welsh wine was the most drunk tipple, making up 44 per cent of the total booze consumed in 2015, the same as in 2014.
The government's cellar, which was established in 1922, contains 33,669 bottles of wine and spirits with a total stock value of £809,990 - while in the shops the cellar would cost you an estimated £3.25million.
The finances of the cellar were boosted by payments worth £15,848 from other Government departments.
John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers will be left wondering when every department is having to find necessary savings, how they can justify payments worth over £15,00 to the government's cellar.
"The government must ensure that the cellar is self-funding so that taxpayers don't foot the bill for pricey plonk for politicians."
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The government also sold fewer bottles from its cellar stock last year, with just £40,390 sold, compared with £71,050 in 2014.
Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland said: “Taxpayers will be amazed to learn that while Conservative ministers talk about cutting the cost of politics, they have stocked government’s own wine cellar to the tune of over £800,000.
“There are surely more important things for Tory ministers to prioritise spending £800,000 on?
“Official ONS figures show the average household spending £4 a week on wine at home.
“Given this, people will be amazed that over £47,000 worth of bottles were drunk at government events in the last year alone!”
But the £47,236 worth of booze consumed by ministers and their guests was down by 32 per cent last year because of "fewer Government events, particularly during the general election period".
It spent £40,177 on new stock - a reduction of 43 per cent on the previous year when £70,432 was forked out.
Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said in a written statement to MPs: "The wine cellar has been self-funding since 2011/12, through the sale of some high-value stock and payments made by other Government departments for events organised by Government Hospitality."