Rishi Sunak's latest plane trip has people asking all sorts of questions

Rishi Sunak's year is kicking off to a good start (not) thanks to his liberal use of an aeroplane.

The prime minister is facing sustained criticism after he took a 36 minute flight from London to Leeds on an RAF jet to visit a West Yorkshire healthcare centre on Tuesday.

Whilst his spokesman insisted that the PM had flown instead of taking the train – which takes two hours 22 minutes – as it was the "most effective use of his time", those concerned about the climate and the best use of taxpayer money remained unsatisfied.

Adrian Ramsay, co-leader of the Green Party, told Sky News: "Private jets are estimated to be between five and 14 times more polluting than commercial flights and 50 times more polluting than taking a train.

"It is completely indefensible for Conservative ministers to make such short distance journeys by private jet when a far cheaper and much less damaging option is available."

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Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner added: "Families will be rightly angered by this show of extravagance by Rishi Sunak.

"Patients and staff are crying out for action from this government in the midst of a crisis in our NHS while the prime minister jets from London to Leeds for a photo op.

"The prime minister must come clean about how much taxpayers' money was wasted on this 36-minute plane journey for a three-hour visit at the height of a cost-of-living crisis."

As well as this, people on social media wondered why the PM was saluted when he boarded the aircraft:

Another person said, in light of the time management defence, that he should invest his wealth in a watch.

Sunak is not the only Tory MP who has previously faced criticism for choosing to zoom across the sky rather than take other forms of transport. The issue caused previous prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson to stumble to defend themselves too.

They never learn, do they?

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