Labour MP claimed £68k in rent from taxpayer – while letting his own home
WELSH Labour MP Geraint Davies claimed more than £68,000 in expenses over a three-and-a-halfyear period to rent a second home in London – even though he owned a property in the city that he was renting out to a tenant.
Mr Davies, who has been the MP for Swansea West since 2010, was one of 16 MPS – and the only one from Wales – who took advantage of what has been described as a loophole in the parliamentary expenses system.
Declarations made by Mr Davies show that between November 2017 and May 2021 he claimed a total of £68,712.40 from IPSA (the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) to rent a home in London while he attends the House of Commons.
He has also declared that he owns a property in London worth more than £100,000 which he lets out to a tenant for an unspecified amount in excess of £10,000.
Research undertaken by the Independent news website showed that four ministers in Boris Johnson’s Government are among a group of MPS – 14 Conservatives and two Labour – who have claimed more than £1m from the taxpayer to cover their rent payments, while receiving rent themselves from properties they own in London.
Former Attorney General Sir Geoffrey Cox came in for severe criticism after it emerged that he was claiming £1,900 a month for his taxpayerfunded flat while claiming a rental income from a home elsewhere in London.
The four current ministers who have also claimed for rent while letting out homes in the UK capital include International Trade Secretary Anne-marie Trevelyan, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, Prisons Minister Victoria Atkins and junior Treasury Minister John Glen.
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said the latest findings on second homes were “shocking”.
He called for an end to the “loophole” which allowed propertyowning MPS to put their own rent on expenses and stay within the rules.
Sir Alistair said: “It may be within the rules, but it’s quite wrong for MPS to use the public purse in this way. MPS have a duty to claim only public funds that are necessary.
“If there’s an opportunity to end the loophole allowing them to do this, then we must take it. There is a growing feeling that the rules must change.”
MPS have not been permitted to claim expenses for mortgage payments on second homes in London since 2010 under changes brought in following the previous year’s expenses scandal.
But 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.” Sir Geoffrey has been under fire following the disclosure that he stands to make more than £1m from outside legal work, including representing the British Virgin Islands in a corruption inquiry.
He is currently claiming £22,000 a year in taxpayer funding to rent a London home while collecting rent on another property he co-owns in the capital.
A spokeswoman for the MP said: “Sir Geoffrey has acted at all times within the rules set by the IPSA.”
Mr Davies did not respond to a series of messages we left for him.