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Liverpool Echo

National

Tom Scotson

Councils spend thousands on tea and biscuits

Liverpool City Council Sefton Council Aldi Asda Echo Halton Council Knowsley Council Morrisons Sainsbury Tesco

Merseyside councils have spent tens of thousands of pounds on snacks and meals in the past eight years, exclusive figures reveal.

The news comes as the UK is experiencing the most acute cost-of-living crisis in decades. Freedom of Information data, revealed by the ECHO, found Liverpool City Council as the most extravagant spender, having used £73,989 of taxpayers' money on tea and biscuits since 2015.

Year-on-year spending peaked in 2019 when the council used £17,176 of public money for catering services. Annual spending on refreshments plummeted to £0 after the first lockdown in March 2020 but rose to £397 in 2022.

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