Hard-hit Brits paying £2m extra to heat and light ’empty’ Whitehall offices

HARD-HIT taxpayers have been hit with a second bombshell energy bill — to heat and light “empty” Whitehall offices.

Gas and electricity costs of major government departments rose by £2million last year — as most staff worked from home.

Angry MPs said it was a double whammy as Brits struggle to pay their own bills.

The buildings still need power for the small number of security and maintenance staff on site.

Energy bills for nine of them rose from £7.2million in the year before the pandemic to £9.1million in the following 12 months, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws.

And they are bound to soar even higher as energy costs rise even further.

The MoD’s electricity rose from £3.6million to £4million, an extra £1,000 a day, despite fewer staff.

Ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “It’s astonishing the Government is throwing vast amounts of money heating offices when few staff bother to turn up.”

A government spokesman said many of the sites were in “regular use” in the pandemic.