Good to see our taxes being well spent in Westminster.

The Electoral Commission used government-issued credit cards to pay for everything from milk to London Underground fares. The election watchdog’s staff used taxpayers’ money to buy fruit for their lunches, credit for their mobile phones and a leaving card for a colleague, it was revealed yesterday.

Other charges at the commission included 86p for milk and £6.27 for ‘cakes for election work’. In one case, £2.85 was charged for a retirement card for a staff member.

The commission also used the cards to pay for ‘fruity Fridays’, on which workers were provided with fruit, and ‘munchy Mondays’, which saw snacks handed out. A total of £57.39 was spent on pedometers for ‘walking Wednesday’, when workers were encouraged to walk to the office.

Among the quango’s other spending was £3,370 for an ‘integrity meeting’ at the St Ermin’s hotel in London. The talks with police officers over electoral fraud were staged in the four-star hotel, which is less than 100 yards from Scotland Yard.