British MPs under fire over trips abroad
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Buy SPH photosLONDON (AFP) - British lawmakers are under fire for racking up £1.5 million (S$2.9 million) worth of visits to foreign countries in the last two years. paid for by governments, firms and pressure groups.
Some 242 members of parliament have declared "fact-finding missions" and visits worth £6,500 on average, The Independent newspaper said in a front-page report on "the full scale of MPs' lavish globetrotting".
Foreign governments, private firms and pressure groups have paid for a swathe of trips to exotic destinations, the daily said.
While 36 visits were made to China and Hong Kong, 23 to India and 34 to the United States, only one MP accepted a trip to Afghanistan and just two were recorded visiting nearby Belgium. After the trips, several MPs made speeches in parliament supporting the positions of the governments and countries they visited, The Independent said.
