Charles shows Rishi how it’s done by getting train to Manchester instead of jet
The King awkwardly upstaged the prime minister today by taking the train to Manchester rather than a flight.
Charles is visiting the city today, alongside Queen Consort Camilla, to see GCHQ’s Northwest hub and the Kellogg’s plant, which is the largest cereal factory in Europe and biggest Corn Flake factory in the world.
He was pictured arriving at Manchester Victoria station on his first trip using the royal train.
But Rishi Sunak was criticised yesterday after flying 41 minutes from RAF Northolt in west London to Blackpool, then later hopping over to Teesside airport which took another 28 minutes.
The taxpayer-funded private trip to promote ‘levelling up’ would have taken him around four and a half hours by car, or three hours by train.
Critics – mostly from the Labour Party – said Mr Sunak’s trip made ‘a mockery’ of his Conservative government’s jet zero strategy pledge to help achieve net zero emissions in the UK by 2050.
Since the beginning of the year the PM has also used the 14-seater plane to visit Scotland and Leeds for various engagements.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: ‘His expensive private jet habit is costing the environment and taxpayer dear. He’s swanning around like a washed-up A-lister courtesy of the public, making a mockery of his own government’s “zero-jet” strategy.’
Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: ‘It’s simply ridiculous he can’t get a train like the rest of the British public.’
MP Mark Jenkinson tweeted: ‘He’s prime minister, multiple train changes with a security detail and unreliable Avanti West Coast would be madness.’
Indeed, the 7.16am train he could have taken arrived 14 minutes late yesterday, and only 38.8% of Avanti West Coast’s trains were on time from July to September last year.
Defending himself, the PM told reporters in Morecambe: ‘I travel around so I can do lots of things in one day. I’m not travelling around just for my own enjoyment – though this is very enjoyable, of course.
‘I’m travelling around so I can talk to people in Accrington this morning, then I’ve talked to you, then I’m going to get over to Hartlepool because I’m working on all of your behalfs.
‘Trust me, I’m working as hard as I can to deliver for you and I travel to make myself as effective as possible.’
The PM’s spokesperson said he did not know when Mr Sunak last used a train.
It’s not even the first transport criticism Mr Sunak has come under this week – yesterday he was criticised for not wearing a seatbelt in a video he made while being driven on his tour yesterday.
Not wearing a seatbelt is a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £500.
Mr Sunak apologised yesterday for a ‘brief error of judgment’.
His spokesperson added: ‘[He] fully accepts this was a mistake and apologises. The prime minister believes everyone should wear a seatbelt.’
King Charles has long campaigned for the environment and spoken out about the climate emergency and taking care of the planet.
As long ago as 1970, Charles warned about ‘the horrifying effects of pollution in all its cancerous forms’ aged just 21.
He criticised the ‘confirmed sceptics’ and ‘corporate lobbyists’ who are resisting climate action and sending us deeper into crisis in 2013.
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