Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to use a private jet to get to a campaign event in Scotland.

The Labour leader said it was the "most efficient” way to travel between campaign events.

Answering questions from journalists after a speech in Greenock, Sir Keir said: “We did use a private jet because we needed to get very quickly to Scotland from Wales yesterday, and we have to use the most efficient form of transport in the middle of a very, very busy General Election campaign.

“We offset the carbon, we always do whenever we use transport in the air.”

He added: “We’ve got five weeks to take our argument to the country, I need to get across the country to speak to as many people as possible, and from time to time we have to do it as efficiently as possible.”

Labour has previously criticised the Prime Minister for using private planes and helicopters to travel around the country, describing him as “out of touch”.

Rachel Reeves had also previously promised to crack down on “Tory ministers’ private jet habit.”

READ MORE: General election 2024 in Scotland LIVE coverage

Sir Keir was in Greenock to launch both Labour’s “six first steps for Scotland” and the logo for the proposed GB Energy. 

However, according to reports the symbol is a stock logo design which costs £35. The party has seemingly tried to make it unique by flipping it and changing the colour. 

 

Tory chairman Richard Holden said: “Nothing better illustrates Starmerism than the fact Sir Keir has flown on a private jet to Scotland, to launch a stock logo of something U-turning in on itself, for an energy company which won’t produce any energy – that’s not a plan to keep our energy secure and our country protected from Putin.”