Angela Rayner left red-faced after lecturing Tories on public waste – while using her expenses-funded iPad

ANGELA Rayner was left red-faced yesterday after lecturing the Tories on wasting public money – while using the iPad she claimed on expenses.

A Labour stunt attacking Government credit card spending backfired when their own MPs came under scrutiny.

The party’s deputy was forced to defend billing taxpayers £2,000 for personalised Apple AirPods and an iPad, revealed by the Sun in 2021. 

As the tables were turned, Ms Rayner squirmed on Times Radio: “It was free to personalise them. The equipment – I’m actually using the equipment right now – as I’m speaking to you, the iPad is what I’m using to do my job and have been.”

Labour yesterday released a dossier exposing £145million spent in a single year on Whitehall procurement cards.

The party accused the Conservatives of presiding over “a culture of lavish spending” and highlighted tens of thousands frittered on 5-star hotels.

But Ms Rayner admitted that she, Sir Keir Starmer and other shadow cabinet Ministers would happily stay in lavish haunts should they win power.

She said: “In principle if it’s required as part of their job and part of their security then absolutely.”

The Tories also hit back that Labour’s plan to create an Office for Value for Money would only blow more cash on another quango.

Transport Minister Richard Holden said: “Their solution to this issue seems to be straight out of Yes, Minister, to set up a new department, essentially of administrative affairs to look at these – what’s already happening within departments. 

“That’s not more transparency, that’s more bureaucracy. And I think the last thing we want to see at the moment is more Whitehall mandarins checking what other Whitehall mandarins are doing.”

And the Conservatives also claimed Labour spent half a million asking costly parliamentary questions already in the public domain.