Should MPs be allowed to claim second home expenses? Take poll and have your say

04 April 2023 , 10:52

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Home Secretary Suella Braverman has used taxpayers money for utility bills at her London home. (Image: Aaron Chown/PA Wire/Getty)

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has claimed more than £700 in MP expenses towards the costs of a flat she was no longer living in - but is that right?

Ms Braverman has not paid it back, despite renting the home out for profit during the period for which she had received the payout.

In February 2019, the MP for Fareham claimed £1,200 for the service charge on an apartment in Pimlico, Central London, for six months, from March 25 to September 28.

But the Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests shows she moved out on June 6 – and earned rent on it from July 20.

Under the expenses system run by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) , she should have returned £731.55 after moving out.

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A spokesman for Ms Braverman declined to comment but a source close to her said: “She had a baby that July, that’s why she moved out.”

Earlier this week the Mirror revealed how Ms Braverman was using taxpayers’ money to pay utility bills on her £1.2million London home.

She has claimed nearly £25,000 in household bills in five years. The IPSA payouts are intended to ensure out-of-London MPs are not out of pocket running two homes. But when in her constituency, Ms Braverman stays rent-free in her parents’ home in Fareham, Hants. Her claims do not break the rules.

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Paul Speed