Premier Craig Cannonier has taken 17 official trips since assuming office, costing taxpayers a total of $180,000.

The breakdown of expenses, given in response to parliamentary questions from Progressive Labour Party leader Marc Bean, include the costs of people accompanying Mr Cannonier.

Two of the trips — the inauguration of US President Barack Obama, and a meeting with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg — were taken by the Premier on his own.

Others included one, two or several officials: for the Island Infrastructure Summit, which was held in Miami last September, six others are listed as attending.

Calling for Mr Cannonier to exercise restraint, Mr Bean said: “The Premier holds no Ministerial portfolio, yet he has taken 17 overseas trips at the taxpayer’s expense including an astonishing $13,000 bill for ground transportation on just one trip. At a time when government workers are seeing their work week and paycheques shrink, the Premier does not appear interested in sharing in the sacrifice needed to get Bermudians back to work.”

The trip in question — the World Islamic Economic Forum — was held in London in November. It was also the most expensive, adding up to $48,166.

One trip, to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, included $10,059 for meals.

The cheapest trip was a $2,256 meeting with Norwegian Cruise Line.

“The Premier should not be above or exempt from shared sacrifice, so we call on the Minister of Finance to restrain the Premier’s impulses and have him do his part to reduce the cost of government,” said Mr Bean.

“The Premier, who is leading the drive to reduce costs in Government, needs to set the example and cut back on his expenses while he is asking government departments and workers to do more with less.”

The responses came almost a week later than expected by the Opposition: informed in last week’s sitting of the House of Assembly that written answers hadn’t yet been prepared, Mr Bean told MPs the delay was “completely unacceptable”.

There was no response from the OBA to Mr Bean’s statement last night.