Civil servants from the Government’s environment department spent more than £700,000 of taxpayers' cash on luxury air travel last year, figures have revealed. Staff from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) flew in business class and premium economy class 237 times in 12 months.

The department spent £721,189.25 on plane seats for civil servants in the financial year from 2023 to 2024. Alethea Warrington, head of aviation at the climate charity Possible, said: “Passengers in business-class seats are responsible for at least twice as many emissions than those who fly in economy seats as there is higher fuel consumption per passenger.

“When we need the frequent flyers in our society to cut their number of trips, the Government should be setting a positive example and always choosing the least carbon-intensive options possible when their civil servants have to fly.”

In the previous year between 2022 and 2023, Defra coughed up £122,111 on 42 trips while Covid travel restrictions were in place, figures obtained by the Daily Mail found.

Defra's website says its priorities include trying to “improve the environment through cleaner air” and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Hannah Lawrence, from the campaign group Stay Grounded, said: “There is no safe future without a massive reduction in the number of flights that take off each day.

“To see governments... failing to act in a way that recognises this, and pouring money into a destructive industry... is hugely frustrating.”

A Labour source accused the Tories - who were in power during the period in question - of having lost “complete control over how Whitehall was spending taxpayer money”.

Defra's travel policy states that for journeys of more than ten hours “a business-class flight may be purchased subject to approval from a manager”.

A Defra spokesman said: “Staff are required to travel internationally to represent the UK in global discussions.

“We always seek to ensure value for money on all travel, with strict rules in place.”