The Express report:

Most of the trees are donated but thousands of pounds of public money is spent on installing and maintaining them.

At a time of financial squeeze across the country, Commons authorities have agreed to spend twice the amount as last year on decorating Parliament.

Freedom of Information documents reveal that a budget of £13,577 has been approved by Speaker John Bercow, bringing the total festive spend to £74,708.80 in the past five years. That is enough to pay 180 apprentices for a month or fund 520 hostel places a year.

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Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.