31st March, 2014 by Melita Kiely

Politicians and staff in the House of Commons consumed £1.4 million worth of alcohol in 2013, new figures have revealed.

The data,obtained by the Sunday Mirror investigating alcohol sales at Westminster, revealed that a taxpayer subsidy of £5m for catering at the Houses of Parliament facilitated the large sales of alcohol, which included 522 bottles of Gordons Gin and 257 bottles of Pimms No1.

In addition, more than 5,700 bottles of whisky were sold in various House of Commons bars and the House of Commons gift shop.

While prices in the Commons bars and restaurants are subsidised by taxpayers, alcoholic drinks are sold in Westminster’s gift shops at a profit in an attempt to reduce the taxpayer subsidy.

The figures also revealed MPs drank 8,670 bottles of Champagne while a further 2,954 bottles were sold in the Commons gift shop.

Additionally, 26,000 bottles of Merlot and 49,000 bottles of Chardonnay were sold and when it came to beer, Peroni proved most popular with an assortment of Commons bars selling 10,800 bottles as well as 10,248 bottles of Becks.