Telegraph Four Government ministers have now been dragged into the row over expenses for second homes as it emerged that 27 MPs living in London claimed £1.7 million from the taxpayer over a five-year period.
Tony McNulty, the Employment Minister, Ann Keen, the Health Minister, Gareth Thomas, the Under Secretary of State for International Development and David Lammy, the Minister for Higher Education are MPs who have made substantial claims under the Additional Costs Allowance.
More than half of the MPs who claimed the money live less than an hour's commute from parliament, which sits for just 128 days per year.
And whilst many say they need flats near parliament because of long working hours, more than 20 other outer London MPs claim nothing at all.
The massive discrepancies in the amount of money claimed by MPs with constituencies in the capital has added to the growing clamour for reform of the parliamentary expenses system, with one taxpayers' group suggesting the MPs were "insulting" ordinary working people by demanding publicly-funded second homes.
Sarah Teather, the Lib Dem MP for Brent East who does not claim the allowance, said her commute takes 30 minutes on the Tube and it was "appalling" that other MPs in a similar position claimed for a second home.
The Additional Costs Allowance, currently worth a maximum of £24,006 per year, was brought in to help MPs based outside central London to pay for second homes or hotel stays nearer parliament.
But the case of Mr McNulty, who lives in central London with his wife and uses the money to pay the mortgage on a house in his constituency where his parents live, has highlighted alleged abuses of the system.
Mrs Keen, the MP for Brentford & Isleworth in west London, has a constituency home where she lives with her husband Alan, the MP for the neighbouring constituency of Feltham and Heston.
Despite living just 10 miles from Westminster, the couple have claimed £87,000 each through the ACA system to buy a flat near the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank which is now worth an estimated £700,000.
The average salary for an MP is £60,000 which is not bad, it seems that some MPs are incapable of commuting for an hour each way per day, and would rather squander our money on “second homes” in London when they already live in London.
These peole are taking the piss, they are arrogant and greedy and seem to have no conception of ethics.
The rules must be changed, any MP living within an hours commuting time of Parliament have to be excluded from this allowance, in fact it would be better to scrap the second home allowance completely, and make the MPs stay in hotels (not the Ritz) and submit receipts for payment (excluding food and drink).
MPs have had it too good for too long, and we are paying for their “nice” lifestyles, let them be like us, one home, pay your own fares and commute daily.
After all they are employed by us.
"We sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have -- Power." Matthew Bolton
Angus
Angus Dei on all and sundry
NHS Behind the headlines
NHS-THE OTHER SIDE
Tony McNulty, the Employment Minister, Ann Keen, the Health Minister, Gareth Thomas, the Under Secretary of State for International Development and David Lammy, the Minister for Higher Education are MPs who have made substantial claims under the Additional Costs Allowance.
More than half of the MPs who claimed the money live less than an hour's commute from parliament, which sits for just 128 days per year.
And whilst many say they need flats near parliament because of long working hours, more than 20 other outer London MPs claim nothing at all.
The massive discrepancies in the amount of money claimed by MPs with constituencies in the capital has added to the growing clamour for reform of the parliamentary expenses system, with one taxpayers' group suggesting the MPs were "insulting" ordinary working people by demanding publicly-funded second homes.
Sarah Teather, the Lib Dem MP for Brent East who does not claim the allowance, said her commute takes 30 minutes on the Tube and it was "appalling" that other MPs in a similar position claimed for a second home.
The Additional Costs Allowance, currently worth a maximum of £24,006 per year, was brought in to help MPs based outside central London to pay for second homes or hotel stays nearer parliament.
But the case of Mr McNulty, who lives in central London with his wife and uses the money to pay the mortgage on a house in his constituency where his parents live, has highlighted alleged abuses of the system.
Mrs Keen, the MP for Brentford & Isleworth in west London, has a constituency home where she lives with her husband Alan, the MP for the neighbouring constituency of Feltham and Heston.
Despite living just 10 miles from Westminster, the couple have claimed £87,000 each through the ACA system to buy a flat near the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank which is now worth an estimated £700,000.
The average salary for an MP is £60,000 which is not bad, it seems that some MPs are incapable of commuting for an hour each way per day, and would rather squander our money on “second homes” in London when they already live in London.
These peole are taking the piss, they are arrogant and greedy and seem to have no conception of ethics.
The rules must be changed, any MP living within an hours commuting time of Parliament have to be excluded from this allowance, in fact it would be better to scrap the second home allowance completely, and make the MPs stay in hotels (not the Ritz) and submit receipts for payment (excluding food and drink).
MPs have had it too good for too long, and we are paying for their “nice” lifestyles, let them be like us, one home, pay your own fares and commute daily.
After all they are employed by us.
"We sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have -- Power." Matthew Bolton
Angus
Angus Dei on all and sundry
NHS Behind the headlines
NHS-THE OTHER SIDE
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