Ministers admitted last night that they had spent more than £12,000 on golf balls in the past three years.

The top-of-the-range balls have been handed out to wealthy businessmen as part of efforts to promote Britain’s trade links.

The £12,030 bill emerged after a Tory MP ventured into the rough at his Surrey golf course and discovered a golf ball branded UK Trade and Investment (UKTI). Humfrey Malins, MP for Woking, asked the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which funds UKTI, to reveal the full extent of its spending on golf balls.

“It is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money,” said Mr Malins, who captains the parliamentary golf team. “To think that the Government has been spending over £4,000 a year on golf balls is quite ridiculous.”

Ministers defended the spending, which they said had been used as “corporate gifts for business leaders at events such as the PGA Merchandising Show in the US”. Businessmen have also been teeing off with government-funded Titleist golf balls distributed at events in Canada, Japan, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and “a small number of occasions in the Middle East”.

A spokeswoman said that “a huge amount of business is done at these events” but added that there were no plans to buy any more of the balls. “The UKTI’s role is to market the UK and to promote UK companies overseas,” she said.

Mark Prisk, the Shadow spokesman for business and enterprise, said: “At a time when small businesses are struggling to survive, ministers are wasting money on fancy golf balls. They need to get their priorities right.”

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