Taxpayers’ money, which has been spent on the Mayor of Reading’s trip to Germany to watch the European football competition and other expenses, has been revealed.
A freedom of information (FOI) request to Reading Borough Council has revealed more than £2,000 was spent on the mayor’s trip to the UEFA European Football Championship and other expenses.
The Euros took place in Germany last year, with the competition seeing Spain beat England 2-1.
Councillor Glenn Dennis, the Mayor of Reading for 2024/25, attended the Euros to take part in the official opening reception of the tournament.
He watched Ukraine beat Slovakia 2-1 with Dr Stephan Keller, the Mayor of Düsseldorf, the North Rhine-Westphalia city, which Reading is twinned with.
They were joined by Sven Schulze, the Mayor of Chemnitz, which is also twinned with Düsseldorf, at the city’s football arena.
At the time, cllr Dennis said: “Football’s coming home is actually the English football anthem, but I can attest to my hosts that this also applies to football in Düsseldorf.
“Congratulations on ‘everybody’s home game’!”
A total of £2,420.13 was spent on cllr Dennis’ travel during his term as Mayor from May 2024 to May 2025.
That figure includes both the expenses of the trip to Düsseldorf and taxi travel to attend events as Mayor.
A council spokesperson said: “Last year’s Mayor, Cllr Glenn Dennis, travelled to Reading’s longest established twin town of Düsseldorf, on the invitation of Düsseldorf City Council, to attend the official opening reception for Euro 2024 in June 2024.
“All other trips abroad made by the Mayor that year were in a personal capacity and not funded through the council.”
Taxpayers’ money, which has been spent on the Mayor of Reading’s trip to Germany to watch the European football competition and other expenses, has been revealed.
A freedom of information (FOI) request to Reading Borough Council has revealed more than £2,000 was spent on the mayor’s trip to the UEFA European Football Championship and other expenses.
The Euros took place in Germany last year, with the competition seeing Spain beat England 2-1.
Councillor Glenn Dennis, the Mayor of Reading for 2024/25, attended the Euros to take part in the official opening reception of the tournament.
He watched Ukraine beat Slovakia 2-1 with Dr Stephan Keller, the Mayor of Düsseldorf, the North Rhine-Westphalia city, which Reading is twinned with.
They were joined by Sven Schulze, the Mayor of Chemnitz, which is also twinned with Düsseldorf, at the city’s football arena.
At the time, cllr Dennis said: “Football’s coming home is actually the English football anthem, but I can attest to my hosts that this also applies to football in Düsseldorf.
“Congratulations on ‘everybody’s home game’!”
A total of £2,420.13 was spent on cllr Dennis’ travel during his term as Mayor from May 2024 to May 2025.
That figure includes both the expenses of the trip to Düsseldorf and taxi travel to attend events as Mayor.
A council spokesperson said: “Last year’s Mayor, Cllr Glenn Dennis, travelled to Reading’s longest established twin town of Düsseldorf, on the invitation of Düsseldorf City Council, to attend the official opening reception for Euro 2024 in June 2024.
“All other trips abroad made by the Mayor that year were in a personal capacity and not funded through the council.”
Reacting to the amount spent, Benjamin Elks, grassroots development manager of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This is an extraordinary amount of money to be spending on travel expenses. It suggests there is significant room for cost cutting.
“In particular, the thousands spent for the mayor to go to the Euros and other travel expenses looks to be a pretty indefensible use of cash, local taxpayers would expect his ceremonial role to be focused on genuinely local community events, not big, international sports tournaments.
“Reading council should be reviewing their policy on travel expenses and their policy on mayoral visits to see if savings can be made.”
Defending the expenses, the council spokesperson said: “The Mayor has an important Civic role in supporting community organisations and groups across Reading, and the remainder of the Mayoral travel expenses were for taxi travel to attend events he had been invited to in his official capacity.”
Cllr Dennis’ Instagram shows trips to the Caribbean and the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain.
Reading has been twinned with Düsseldorf since 1947, and an official partnership has existed since 1988.
Düsseldorf also developed a partnership with Chemnitz in Saxony.
At that time, it was called Karl-Marx-Stadt and was part of East Germany.
The city’s name was changed back to Chemnitz when Germany was reunified in 1990.
Cllr Alice Mpofu-Coles (Labour, Whitley) became Mayor of Reading in May, having previously served as deputy mayor for 2024/25.
The council spokesperson did not specify any trips that cllr Mpofu-Coles made during her time as deputy mayor.
Previously, mayors or their deputies have attended St Patrick’s Day celebrations to Reading’s twin town of Clonmel in the Republic of Ireland.
