THE Ministry of Defence has come under fire following revelations that it has spent almost £13 million on hire cars for staff this year.

A freedom of information (FoI) request by the PA news agency also showed that the Department for Transport spent more than £1.1 million in the year to October, while other departments have spent tens of thousands of pounds.

The total figure from responses to the FoI request was more than £14.2 million.

The MoD said its staff had to travel across Britain and bases over the world to locations not always accessible with public transport.

But Labour and Unite, which represents civilian workers in the MoD, slammed the “excessive” amount of money spent.

Caren Evans, Unite’s acting national officer for defence staff, said: “This […] demonstrates how hugely inefficient the MoD is and is exceptionally poor value for money for taxpayers.

“This revelation of grandiose spending on hired vehicles by the MoD is a kick in teeth for civilian MoD staff who have experienced a pay freeze this year and are now struggling to make ends meet due to the cost of living crisis.

“The money spent on hiring cars could and should have been better spent on giving MoD workers a much-needed pay rise.”

Shadow defence secretary John Healey said: “The defence department has blown millions of pounds on taxis at the same time as cutting army numbers and freezing forces’ pay.

“There’s so much waste in MoD budgets and ministers have got no grip on the problems. This Tory waste is letting down front-line forces and taxpayers.”