Labour MPs most keen to get away from UK for summer holidays

A survey showed that 70 per cent of Labour MPs plan to head abroad for their holidays – while just 57 per cent of the general public will be escaping to foreign shores.

The Lib Dems are right behind them with 69 per cent planning foreign escapes, while 68 per cent of Tory MPs surveyed planned to head abroad, according to a ComRes survey.

Labour’s Ed Miliband is leading by example, heading to the South of France for two weeks. Last year he spent a fortnight in Greece.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 News understands that Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls is also heading to Europe.

Mr Balls is heading to Italy and then taking a ferry to Spain, we are told – and it might be safe to assume his wife and fellow Shadow Cabinet member Yvette Cooper will be joining him.

But Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hilary Benn, has bucked the trend. He is currently walking in Scotland with his wife Sally, Channel 4 News understands.

The Chancellor is currently on holiday, a Treasury spokeswoman told Channel 4 News – though she would not say where.

The Prime Minister is in Portugal and plans to visit Cornwall later in the year. He and his wife Samantha also enjoyed their annual break to Ibiza in June.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening is following her leader holidaying both home and away, in Devon and France, Channel 4 News understands.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has already had a holiday in Spain and has another booked in France.

For a second year, Mr Clegg and Mr Cameron took their holidays at the same time.

Last year, Theresa May remained in the UK to oversee Olympic security. The year before that, she was the first to fly back from her holiday after a second night of riots in London in August 2011.

Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne were criticised in 2011 for continuing their holidays in Italy and LA respectively, as stock markets crashed and riots erupted over the fateful weekend.

Number 10 declined to comment as to which members of the cabinet are currently in the country. The Prime Minister “is always in charge” regardless of where he is, a spokesman reminded us.

The ComRes survey, conducted for travel group Abta, also found that Welsh MPs were the most keen to get away – with 88 per cent heading for the airport.

London MPs were the least likely to head abroad, with 40 per cent planning staycation in the UK, the poll showed. It was based on responses from 157 MPs and weighted to be representative of the Commons by party and region.

Older MPs were less likely to head abroad, with only 54 per cent of those born before 1950 planning a foreign trip.

Those elected since 2010 were also more likely to holiday in the UK, than those who took their seats before 1986.