A group of four Labour MPs are flying off tomorrow on a trip that will take them to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and California.

At a cost of just over £3,000 a head, the MPs on the ODPM committee will fly business class to examine the issues of local taxation and voting systems.

The three Tory members and one Liberal Democrat member of the committee decided to stay in Britain.

Sir Paul Beresford, the Tory MP for Mole Valley, said: "I would love to go to San Francisco but I would pay for it. I could not justify going on this trip."