‘Badenoch has questions to answer over car hire security concerns'
The Conservative leader has denied there were security concerns about a private car hire arrangement she had when she was a senior minister, first reported by the Sunday Times.
According to the newspaper, Mrs Badenoch had access to a black Jaguar XJ and a driver throughout her time as business secretary through a car hire firm in her constituency at the time, Saffron Walden.
Officials wrote to her and said the arrangement was 'not recommended', and repeatedly warned her of the security risks of not using a car and driver provided by the Government Car Service (GCS), the Sunday Times said.
Civil servants were said to be wary the car could be bugged, and were concerned it was not maintained in a Government garage.
Mrs Badenoch was asked about the story as she appeared on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
She told the BBC: 'I never ignored security advice – the driver was security cleared. Actually, recommended by GCS.
'It was a contract that had been in place for about five years, and I renewed that contract.
'A memo was sent by someone who was unfamiliar with the contract asking about security concerns, and other civil servants said there were no security concerns, and that's the end of the matter,' Ms Badenoch said.
Leaking of the memo from civil servants warning of the security concerns was 'destructive', she said, adding: 'It's a nonsense story.'
But a Labour party spokesperson suggested the opposition leader still had questions to answer.
They said: 'Kemi Badenoch must explain why she hired a private chauffeur at taxpayers' expense rather than relying on the Government Car Service like other ministers.
'The Tory leader cannot just dismiss the security concerns that were raised at the time and hard working families deserve to know how much this extravagant arrangement cost.
'Kemi Badenoch has no plan for our country. The Tories have not listened and have not learned from their defeat last year.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
43 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Council accused of 'complete incompetence' after £86m roads repair bill revealed
Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Council bosses in Edinburgh have been accused of 'complete incompetence' as it grapples with an £86 million repair bill for the city's crumbling roads, amid fears it will take years to get on top of the problem. The revelation comes after Edinburgh City Council was forced to make savings to alleviate a budget gap of almost £40m to balance the books for this financial year, helped in part by hiking council tax by 8 per cent and putting up parking charges by around 10 per cent. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Many said that the city needed urgent repairs to potholes and roads resurfaced. The councillor in charge of transport in the city has acknowledged there is 'a lot of work ahead', but has insisted his authority will 'continue to do the best we can for the city with the resources we have available'. The Labour-run administration, which is propped up with the support of Conservative and Liberal Democrat councillors, admitted a repair backlog for roads across the city stands at £85.7m, while the estimated cost of maintaining roads in their current condition is £11.3m. There were 20,852 potholes recorded by council bosses in Edinburgh in 2024, while one crater took almost a year, 342 days, to repair after being initially reported. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Council bosses have admitted that as of the start of May, a total of 56 roads are classed as having defects. The condition of roads in the city is assessed each year as part of the independent Scottish Roads Maintenance Condition Survey (SRMCS). The results revealed a slight improvement for 2024, but 29.8 per cent of Edinburgh's roads are in need of work. READ MORE: The 22 Edinburgh roads where speed limit will be reduced from 40mph to 30mph The £85.7m would bring all of Edinburgh's roads up to a 'green' standard, which would mean the surface was 'generally in a good state of repair'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Figures also show the council has paid out more than £150,000 in compensation to drivers for vehicle damage since 2015 for more than 4,100 claims. The number of claims soared from 423 in 2022 to 880 in 2023 and 680 in 2024. Last year, councillors earmarked an extra £12.5m of investment in which 'record delivery was achieved', according to council officials. More than 460,000m2 of carriageways received treatment. The council has boasted that capital funding for roads and pavements has increased from £23m in 2024/2 to £26m this financial year, which includes £12m for road works and surface treatment. But the new figures have shown that extra funding will not counter the backlog. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad SNP Edinburgh councillor, Kate Campbell, said the figures demonstrated 'complete incompetence'. Cllr Kate Campbell She said: 'Labour and their Tory and Lib Dem allies have made a lot of noise about their increased investment in roads. But now we discover that there is an enormous £86m backlog of repairs. 'They've spent all this money yet people can't see any improvement. Where on earth has all the money gone? It looks like complete incompetence, once again, from the Labour-led administration.' Scottish Conservative shadow transport secretary and Lothians MPS, Sue Webber, said: 'Scotland's pothole-scarred roads are a damning symbol of SNP failure. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative Lothian MSP 'The SNP have hollowed out Edinburgh Council's budget. The result is a road network in desperate need of resurfacing, leading to countless taxpayers having their vehicles damaged but not being compensated for the repair costs. 'Nationalist ministers should show some common sense for a change and give local authorities the funding they need to fix Scotland's crumbling roads.' 'Our roads are falling apart' Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh Western, said: 'Under this SNP government, our roads are falling apart. 'Motorists, pedestrians and councils are all paying the price for the SNP's brutal cuts to local government. Those cuts have made it tougher for councils to plan for the long-term and invest in vital infrastructure. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Scottish Liberal Democrats have set out plans to fix this: that starts by better supporting local authorities and giving them the fair deal they deserve.' Stephen Jenkinson, the council's transport and environment convener, said: 'Our residents have made it clear that they want and expect continued investment in our roads network. Councillor Stephen Jenkinson is Edinburgh's new transport convener 'In April we agreed a £25m plus package of road and infrastructure investments for the year ahead and we're focussed on delivering these improvements. 'This follows on from 2024 where we treated a record 460,000m2 of carriageways and 52,000m2 of footways. Edinburgh's Road Condition Indicator (RCI), which signifies the percentage of roads that should be considered for investment, also saw the largest single year improvement on record last year.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He added: 'These improvements are even more significant in the context of the profound financial constraints which are impacting local authority budgets across the country.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
BBC Verify Live: Debunking AI-generated images of Russian airbases
Update: Date: 09:13 BST Title: Friday on BBC Verify Content: Johanna ChisholmBBC Verify Live editor Hello - welcome back to today's live feed where we're bringing you the latest updates from BBC Verify, including fact-checks, online open-source gathering, disinformation debunking and data journalism. I've just been to our morning meeting and the main prospects for BBC Verify today are: Plus, we'll be monitoring Kemi Badenoch's speech later this morning, where the Conservative leader is expected to announce plans to set up a commission that would examine whether the UK should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Kemi is walking into an ECHR trap of her own making
If you think Keir Starmer is rattled by Reform's awkward-squad views on human rights, spare a thought for Kemi Badenoch. In a speech today obviously aimed at Conservative voters thinking of defecting to Nigel Farage with his unapologetic call to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), she will announce that the Tories too are indeed deeply unsatisfied with the convention, and are determined to do something about it. So far so good. Listen further, however, and you see not so much as a position taken as an exercise in bet-hedging. Rather than going full-on for withdrawal, she is – you guessed it – setting up a committee, albeit one embodying the 'sharpest legal minds'. One can see why she has chosen a non-committal managerialist solution like this. Unfortunately, there is every indication that Kemi's scheme will turn out to be a damp squib. The first difficulty is that, while many issues lend themselves to committee-style compromise, ECHR membership is not one of them.
