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Ministers have sparked fury by spending £400,000 having their briefcases chauffeured around Whitehall.

The "wasteful" journeys carried no passengers - just the red boxes ministers use to carry their paperwork.

The huge cost comes despite a Tory pledge to get rid of red boxes, which are filled with civil service briefing papers and documents.

Before becoming prime minister, David Cameron vowed in 2009 to end “politicians swanning around in chauffeur-driven cars like they’re the royal family”.

But figures revealed under the Freedom of Information Act to the Huffington Post show briefcases have been ferried around in taxpayer-funded limousines more than 4,000 times since the Tories came to power in 2010.

And the annual cost is rising.

(Image: REUTERS)

The figures revealed £44,010 was lavished on ferrying documents - and no passengers - between departments and ministers' homes in 2016/17, around £3,000 more than the year before.

In the six years since the then coalition Government promised a crackdown on wasteful spending, almost £400,000 has been spent on the practice.

Labour slammed the Government over “another broken promise” as the data showed papers were chauffeured around 540 times in the last year.

Labour MP Luke Pollard said: “This is yet another example of a Tory broken promise.

"They said they’d clamp down on wasteful spending, but the cost to the taxpayer of ferrying ministers’ red boxes round in air-conditioned luxury cars has increased; indicative of Tory failure at a time when families across the country are struggling to make ends meet.”

In July, we told how Justine Greening left her red box unattended in the street as she dodged questions from the Daily Mirror about teachers' 1% pay rise.

(Image: Tim Anderson)

The Education Secretary fled back into her house, leaving her red box - containing official papers - outside.

Our reporter had confronted the Education Secretary outside her London home as she was about to leave for a Cabinet meeting. But within seconds of stepping out of her door and placing her Ministerial Red Box at the end of her garden path, she went back inside without it.

The Department for Transport pointed to how the annual cost and number of trips had been slashed by half since 2011.

However, the actual spending could be far higher than declared. The figures released by the Government only relate to bookings made directly to the Government Car Service (GCS).

Ministers also have access to 20 pool cars stationed around Westminster, and they could be used for red box movements.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring the Government Car Service provides value for money for the taxpayer and have cut the costs of transporting dispatch boxes by over half from £110,865 in 2011/12 to £44,001 in 2016/17.

“There are occasions when the government car service is appropriate to move minister’s boxes in a secure manner for official business. All usage is governed by the Ministerial Code.”