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A Tory-run council is spending thousands of pounds running a fleet of luxury cars while pushing through cuts to children’s services.

Westminster council in London spent £90,000 on a Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph for the Mayor and other local bigwigs.

It has also splashed out nearly £30,000 in the last three years on leasing a top-of-the-range Audi for council use.

The council spent £11,800 last year on the upkeep, congestion charge fees and fuel costs for the two chauffeur-driven vehicles.

The details, released under a Freedom of Information request, came as the local authority is set to axe nearly 50 play workers and support staff as part of cuts to youth services.

The staff, who provide after school activities for hundreds of children, could lose their jobs under plans to save £320,000 over the next two years from the Children’s Centres, Youth Provision and Play Provision budgets.

Labour MP Karen Buck said the council had got its priorities wrong.

She said: “They pay £160,000 on private health care for senior staff and can find cash for a Rolls Royce.

“Meanwhile they are consulting right now on slashing children’s centres, ending their school-based childcare and withdrawing from running a youth service. They need to think again.”

The Westminster North MP added: “Other councils are doing far better at protecting their children’s and youth services. This is also a question of priorities.

“Spending tens of thousands on chauffeured cars and on private health care for senior staff cannot be justified while children’s centres are closing, school-age childcare being ended and most funding being withdrawn from the youth service.”

(Image: Getty)

The council said the cars were used to ferry the Lord Mayor, six former Lord Mayors and five Alderman of the City to hundreds of “engagements” every year.

A spokesman for Westminster Council said: "At a time of reduced government funding we have to make a number of changes to the way we deliver all our services.

We’re proposing to change how we deliver services out of Children’s Centres and our broader youth services.

"This is why we are currently consulting with parents and carers who use our services to give them the opportunity to have their say on our proposals. These include our proposal for a new Partnership for Young People – a more sustainable way of delivering youth services.

“As with everything, we constantly review the costs to see if alternative solutions would provide better value. It is worth noting that Westminster’s Lord Mayor conducts as many as 600 civic duties across the borough in a year.”