BORIS JOHNSON has been slammed for “playing fast and loose” with taxpayers’ cash after jumping on a private jet to Blackpool instead of catching a three-hour train. 

The PM flew from Stansted to Warton on a charter flight on Thursday, with the total trip from Downing Street to Blackpool estimated at two hours and 30 minutes. 

This is only an hour less than the three-and-a-half-hour journey the PM could have taken by train from London Euston, LBC reported. 

The journey is thought to have generated several tonnes of carbon emissions and cost far more than a railway ticket. 

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner told LBC: “Just days after he has written off £4.3 billion lost to fraud, the Prime Minister is yet again playing fast and loose with taxpayers’ cash.

“Coming on top of billions spent on crony contracts, these decisions destroy any claim that the Conservatives can be trusted with public finances.”

Environmental groups said the PM’s jet-setting sends the wrong message amid efforts to tackle the climate crisis. 

A Greenpeace spokesperson said: “For a Prime Minister who likes to boast about climate leadership, Boris Johnson has developed an unhelpful habit of flying short distances when a train journey would have been greener, cheaper and not that much longer. 

“If the UK is to cut planet-heating emissions from transport, we absolutely need to make rail journeys more attractive than flights. Shame that the PM is not leading by example.”

Mr Johnson has previously come under fire over his use of private jets to fly short distances, namely when he flew to Cop26 in Glasgow last year. 

A Number 10 spokesperson said: “All travel decisions are made with consideration for security and time restraints.”