New MP scandal as they’re claiming rent on expenses while renting out dwellings
Extra cash for MPs who rent: it’s not exactly a backhander because it’s in line with Parliamentary rules – but the practice certainly shouldn’t be.
Do Tory MPs receive a manual on election, entitled Tories On The Take: How To Do It?
Here’s the latest:
17 MPs claim rent on a London home they own while renting another in London to live in, analysis by Indy shows https://t.co/GhFR00cK5C This is not against the rules and IPSA, which makes them, was warned it would happen says Times which counts 14 https://t.co/1JqA4uGq6l
— Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) November 12, 2021
In fairness, two of the MPs accused represent Labour – but commentators other than This Writer have called them Red Tories:
They voted to take £20 a week from Universal Credit claimants but they are squeezing the public purse dry.
Here are the 17 MPs claiming rent on expenses whilst renting out their own homes. Labour as well as Tory.
The entire parliamentary system is riddled with #CORRUPTION pic.twitter.com/H2zFpz2y9m
— Left Unity (@LeftUnityParty) November 12, 2021
The Independent, which lists 16 of the accused MPs, states:
Over the past five years, 16 MPs have claimed over £1.3m in taxpayer-funded rent while collecting thousands rent letting out properties in the capital, according to submissions published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) and the register of members’ interests.
Claims for rent are permitted under Ipsa rules, which state that MPs can receive taxpayer funding for “rental payments and associated costs”. An Ipsa document in 2017 conceded that some arrangements could be controversial – but advised against any change to the rules.
“We recognise that there can be a perception of personal gain if an MP receives rental income from their own property while living in an Ipsa-funded flat,” it said. “However … We do not want to judge an MP’s private arrangements and whether or not they should live in a property they own.”
That may be about to change.
If a member of Parliament is able to carry out their work from their own home, but rent accommodation and charge it to the public purse while taking rent income from their own property – and the rental income means they profit from the arrangement, then they are running an expenses scam and it should stop.
That’s how members of the public are likely to see it.
They may have a good point, I think.
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Tories are lower than vermin but MPs on all sides are open to corruption or at least lining their own pockets whenever they can. I know of a certain Labour peer who got away with claiming 100K expenses for a second home, her mother’s Yorkshire bungalow, that she hadn’t lived in since she moved to London at age 18, about 50 years ago.