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It is “plain wrong” for MPs to be claiming taxpayers’ cash for rent while earning money for letting out properties they already own in London, a senior Tory has said.
According to a report in The Times, fourteen MPs, nearly all of them Conservatives, claim rent on their parliamentary expenses even though they already own a home in the capital that they are renting out to a tenant.
The arrangement is not against the rules governing MPs’ expenses, but there has been a call for the “loophole” to be closed.
Many of those who make claims for rent are critical of the system and claim it ends up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
But they say they have been forced into doing so because the system does not allow them to claim mortgage interest payments as expenses.
One of the MPs who uses the arrangement is Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox, who has recently come under scrutiny for his earnings outside Parliament and claims that he misused his Commons office.
The former attorney general, who has defended his consultancy work and denies any wrongdoing in relation to his parliamentary office, is entitled to claim accommodation costs for staying in London as he has a constituency outside the capital.
Records show that up until 2017 he was claiming between £8,000 and £9,000 a year in “associated costs”, such as energy bills and service charges, on a home he owned.
But the following year his claims increased to £22,000 a year when he moved into a rented property.
Sir Geoffrey’s declaration in the register of members’ interests showed that from November 2017 he was receiving more than £10,000 a year from renting out a home in London.
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Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, described the arrangement as a…
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Source : skynews
