Prescott's £2m admin costs attacked

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is running up an annual bill of almost £2 million in administration and office costs.

Mr Prescott, who was stripped of his departmental responsibilities in the Cabinet reshuffle last May, said in a written Commons statement that he had been cleared by the Treasury to spend £1.96 million on administration.

Shadow constitutional affairs secretary Oliver Heald condemned the spending as a "scandalous" waste of taxpayers' money and promised that the Conservatives would vote against it when it came before the Commons.

"Despite losing his job, John Prescott has created a new Whitehall empire at taxpayers' expense," he said.

"At a time when savage NHS cuts are being imposed by Gordon Brown, spending £2 million on a vanity department is a scandalous waste of time and money."

Mr Prescott has previously disclosed that he retains a staff of 16 civil servants and two special advisers to support him in his ministerial duties.