News

Government spent £27,000 on wine cellar during pandemic

12 January 2024 By James Evison

The much-delayed figures from the UK government wine cellar have finally been released, revealing that £27,000 has been spent on bottles during the 2020-2022 period.

Originally due to be published last year, the data from the government revealed that more than 1,400 bottles of wine and spirits were consumed during the period, which stretched the whole length of the pandemic and the lockdowns.

The number is significantly less that the previous pre-pandemic figures of 3,000 to 5,000 bottles of wine and spirits that is normally consumed by the government for domestic and overseas guests.

Although it revealed only 130 bottles were drunk between March 2020 and March 2021, the figure was much higher for the following year as we emerged for lockdowns and international travel restrictions, with some 1,300 bottles drunk in the year to March 2022.

The government cellar also was topped up with £14,621-worth of 516 bottles of red Bordeaux, which cost approximately £28 per bottle, and £12,356 of English and Welsh sparkling wine with 636 bottles and 180 magnums purchased at an average cost of just £19. There were also 18 bottles of gin, and four bottles of whisky and liqueurs purchased in 2021.

Defending the consumption during the period of lockdowns and restrictions, Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said in a written statement: “All events organised by government hospitality during this period were done so in strict accordance with Covid-19 restrictions.”

But the Labour opposition slammed the move, with shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry stating: “While the rest of the country was facing Covid restrictions and a cost of living crisis, the government was getting through 1,433 bottles from its wine cellar, and replenishing the stocks with a net spend of more than £100,000 over the three years from 2019-22.

“They lived the high life at taxpayers’ expense while the rest of the country struggled, and it will never be forgotten.”

The news follows Conservative MP Sir Charles Walker telling the House of Commons that consumers and should start purchasing a few bottles of Australian wine, and parliament’s bars should start stocking them, in solidarity with the state against the current tariffs which are still imposed by China —although they are being reviewed by Beijing.

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