Anger as Lib Dem peer uses furlough system
Lib Dem criticised for claiming Lords daily allowance while receiving government business cash
A peer has furloughed himself despite having a £100,000 cash pot in his company and claiming the House of Lords daily allowance during lockdown, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Lord Fox, who owns two homes worth more than £2million, is the first known parliamentarian to use the Government’s wage subsidy scheme to pay himself. The 62-yearold Liberal Democrat was last night criticised by MPS for “milking the taxpayer”.
A FRONTBENCH peer has furloughed himself despite having a £100,000 cash pot in his company and claiming the House of Lords’ daily allowance during lockdown, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Lord Fox, who owns two homes worth more than £2million, is the first known parliamentarian to use the Government’s wage subsidy scheme to pay himself.
The 62-year-old Liberal Democrat spokesman for business is the owner and sole employee of Vulpes Advisory, a “strategic communications” company.
His decision to double-dip into the taxpayers’ pocket was last night criticised by MPS for “milking the taxpayer” who said he should pay the money back.
The peer has chosen to take the £162 daily allowance for his work in the Lords, which is being conducted in virtual video sessions during the lockdown.
Asked last night if having his private income paid by the state as well as taking the Lords stipend was “greedy”, Lord Fox said: “I don’t think conflating the two is even logical.
“It’s what many companies are doing, which is furloughing their employees.
“If HMRC had thought it was ineligible for me to have applied for that, then they would have said so.”
Accounts filed with Companies House show Lord Fox has access to more than £100,000 in cash in his Vulpes bank account.
Instead of using the money to tide the business over, he furloughed himself and has already received his first month’s wage subsidy from the
Government, of about £1,000. Asked why he did not first use the £100,000, he said: “I’m hoping to tide the business over, I’m hoping to relaunch it properly when the scheme … when the virus lifts.”
Lord Fox has a five-bedroom house in Windsor, which he reportedly bought in 1995 for £280,000 and is now estimated to be worth up to £1.89 million, as well as a second home in east London.
Robert Halfon, Tory MP for Harlow said: “It’s incredible that when my residents are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, this peer seems to want to milk the taxpayer at both ends, for every penny – both through the Lords allowance and the furlough scheme. The Chancellor needs to nip this in the bud and make sure this is not allowed. The least he could do is pay the furlough money back.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “It’s a bit rum, furloughing yourself while being a legislator.”
Asked how many days he has claimed the Lords’ allowance during lockdown, Lord Fox said he did not know the exact number but said: “It works out as quite a lot of work.”
He sits on the Lords’ economic affairs committee which has held four hearings over the past month, meaning Lord Fox will pocket £648. At a committee hearing where Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, was called as a witness, Lord Fox declared an interest as “being a director of a company that’s invoked the job retention scheme” but did not say he was the furloughed employee.
Lord Fox made his career in communications, working for companies including Tate & Lyle and held an executive role at engineering company GKN. More than £11.1 billion had been claimed so far through the coronavirus furlough scheme.