EXPENSES The Home Office spent more than £1m on taxis and the same amount on car hire last year, it was revealed yesterday. Spending on cabs went up 16 per cent in 2008-09 to £1,045,671, Immigration minister Phil Woolas said. The figures, revealed to the Tories in response to written parliamentary questions, showed a huge increases in taxi spending since Labour came to power. Shadow police reform minister David Ruffley said the spending was "utterly disgraceful" and called for a clampdown. "These new figures show that over Labour's 11 years there has been a 33-fold increase in Home Office expenditure on taxis," he said. "With the country in recession this is utterly disgraceful."