Leading anti-government aggressor Tom Watson MP’s latest crop of parliamentary questions is ready for harvest. His efficiency report checks up on the promised reductions to the ministerial car service, something the Tory-Liberal government had crowed would be kept to a minimum.

Ministerial cars have always been hard to defend. And in the age of ostensible governmental austerity they are particularly so. Watson has estimated that if the coalition kept their word on reductions, they could be saving the public £6.2 million a year.  But if you go by Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan’s interpretation of ‘we’re all in this together’,  one of three cars will be waiting outside your house to take you to work tomorrow (even though poor junior minister David Jones will be getting the bus from now on). (more…)