New figures show more than £15,000 of taxpayer money has been spent on ferrying Lambeth’s mayor around.

The figures, released by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, show Lambeth Council spent a total of £15,615 on mayoral cars since 2015.

This was below the average spend, which was £21,804, and includes £9,474 on leasing cars, £1,200 on fuel and £4,941 on maintenance costs according to the figures which were obtained via a Freedom of Information request.

Local authority spend on mayoral cars varied from as low as £2,100 in Lewisham, to £99,667 in Redbridge – which included leasing a Jaguar -according to the figures.

But John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the results showed “excessive” local authority spending on mayoral transport all over the country.

“Taxpayers are tired of hearing local authorities say they have no money left when there are still instances of excessive spending,” he said.

“Forty per cent of councils didn’t lease or buy cars, so all other local authorities should follow that example and encourage civic leaders to use cheaper forms of transport.

“Every penny wasted on excessive travel expenses is money that could be going towards social care or bin collections.”

The council also owns a Volkswagen Passat which has an RRP of £19,050.

Across the country, local authorities have spent more than £4.5 million since 2015 on cars for mayors, according to the figures.

Lambeth Council has been approached for comment.