MP's Expenses .......allowed to hide details
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MP's Expenses .......allowed to hide details
Panda Tue 20 Nov - 13:27
MPs' expenses: MPs allowed to hide expenses details
More than 50 MPs have been allowed to censor details of their taxpayer-funded expenses claims after insisting that information about their second homes could compromise their security.
MPs' expenses Photo: ALAMY
By Robert Winnett, Christopher Hope, Holly Watt and Claire Newell
10:00PM GMT 19 Nov 2012
761 Comments
The official expenses regulator published details of MPs’ landlords on Monday night, exposing how several politicians are renting properties from one another or from other acquaintances.
But 51 successfully argued that information regarding their claims should be redacted so that the public cannot establish the identities of those they rent from.
MPs whose details will remain secret are known to include several who are renting properties from one another and a Labour shadow minister who rents a London home from an offshore trust.
On Monday it emerged that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) gave MPs several weeks’ notice that the information was about to be published, affording them an opportunity to end potentially embarrassing or compromising arrangements.
The decision to censor claims echoes the previous expenses scandal when MPs attempted to overturn a High Court order which allowed for the publication of second home addresses and which said such a move would not jeopardise security.
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However, that unredacted information was leaked to The Daily Telegraph with details of the addresses, leading to the exposure in 2009 of fraudulent claims by several MPs and dozens of others milking the system.
Despite the previous public outcry, John Bercow, the Speaker, has spent the past weeks attempting to block the release of the new information. Some MPs argued in response that without full transparency, they risk the public suspecting that they continue to benefit personally from the system.
A partial list was finally released on Monday night, almost a month after publication was initially planned, minus details of the 51 MPs. The information released did disclose that:
• At least two MPs are renting from their colleagues. These include Jessica Morden, who rents a property from fellow Labour MP Madeleine Moon. Two other Labour MPs, Iain McKenzie and Linda Riordan, were also exposed for a similar arrangement.
• Six former MPs are continuing to benefit from the parliamentary expenses system by letting out their properties to current MPs. These include Jonathan Shaw, a former Labour MP, who lets a property to Kevin Brennan; and Ian Stewart, another former Labour MP, letting a home to Gerry Sutcliffe.
• Several peers are letting properties to MPs, while also claiming taxpayer-funded expenses in the House of Lords. These include Lord Flight, a former Tory shadow minister, who is letting a property to Keith Simpson, a ministerial aide. Baroness Tonge, a former Liberal Democrat MP, is letting property to Steve Williams, the Lib Dem MP for Bristol West.
• Several MPs are renting properties from some of Britain’s wealthiest families. They include Nick Boles, the planning minister, who is renting a property from the Burghley Estate. Matt Hancock, the business minister, is renting a house from the Vestey family, and Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, is claiming for rent on a property from Viscount Cranborne’s company.
• Two Labour MPs are renting properties from senior union figures. One of them is Tom Watson, the deputy Labour chairman, who rents rooms in the home of a senior executive at Unite.
• Several MPs are also claiming expenses to rent properties from companies linked to high-profile political donors.
Out of 320 MPs claiming for a second home, the 51 who have requested that their landlords’ details are redacted include Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, John Denham, a former Labour minister, Luciana Berger, the shadow energy and climate change minister, and Nadine Dorries, the suspended Conservative MP who is currently appearing in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
But the Telegraph has confirmed that Ms Berger is renting a flat in London held in an offshore company, which could be embarrassing for the Labour Party who have criticised companies such as Starbucks for not paying tax in Britain.
Ms Berger said that she had requested that her details be redacted for security reasons and had only recently been informed that the flat was held overseas.
Sources close to Mr Clegg said that his landlord was not previously known to him and he had requested the information be withheld for security reasons.
Under changes to the expenses rules introduced in the wake of the previous scandal, MPs were only permitted to continue claiming for mortgage interest until August of this year.
Since then, MPs have been allowed to claim only to rent a second home, to stop them profiting from the system.
Last month, the Telegraph disclosed that at least 27 MPs were letting out their London properties while also claiming rent for other flats. There has been speculation that some MPs may be abusing the new system and standards campaigners have warned against any attempt to hide details of rental arrangements.
Sir Christopher Kelly, the outgoing chairman of the committee on standards in public life, recommended in 2009 that all MPs should rent from a commercial agency to remove any possibility of wrongdoing. On Monday night he said: “The principles here are clear – MPs should be properly reimbursed for costs they incur but not obtain personal financial advantage from the system.”
John Mann, a Labour MP, said that he was against any MPs keeping their landlords’ details secret. “People need to be able to defend what they have done,” he said. “I am not in favour of publishing addresses but everything else should be made public. There is no argument to keep it secret. It gives the impression of something not being right.”
This newspaper understands that MPs were formally approached by Ipsa at the beginning of October with details of the proposed publication of their landlords’ details. But the information finally published related to arrangements on Oct 22, some three weeks later.
This meant MPs could change their rental arrangements before publication.
Last month, the Telegraph disclosed that Kevin Barron, the Labour chairman of the Commons standards and privileges committee, was renting a property from Jon Trickett, a shadow Cabinet minister. But the arrangement ended in September and was not disclosed in the list released on Monday.
On Monday night, Ipsa defended its handling of the information. In a statement, the regulator said: “When releasing information under the Freedom of Information Act, we have a duty to notify the individuals concerned. And, when planning to release information, there is due diligence to be done to ensure that you are acting appropriately and, in this case, not compromising security.
“We publish a huge amount of data. We publish how much MPs claim, and the first part of their postcode. Now we have published the identity of their landlords in 85 per cent of cases. In the cases where we have chosen not to identify the landlord, it is because there are security factors which would have made it imprudent.”
It is understood that details were withheld following advice from the Parliamentary security authorities and after Ipsa checked that their publication could lead to addresses being identified.
There are increasing concerns over Parliamentary interference in the operation of Ipsa, which is supposed to be independent. Last week, the entire board of the regulator resigned after the Speaker forced them to reapply for their jobs to a committee that he had appointed.
MPs' expenses
In MPs' expenses
How the Daily Telegraph exposed the dry rot fraudster
Bizarre MPs' expense claims
Keeping it in the family
More claims by numbers
More than 50 MPs have been allowed to censor details of their taxpayer-funded expenses claims after insisting that information about their second homes could compromise their security.
MPs' expenses Photo: ALAMY
By Robert Winnett, Christopher Hope, Holly Watt and Claire Newell
10:00PM GMT 19 Nov 2012
761 Comments The official expenses regulator published details of MPs’ landlords on Monday night, exposing how several politicians are renting properties from one another or from other acquaintances.
But 51 successfully argued that information regarding their claims should be redacted so that the public cannot establish the identities of those they rent from.
MPs whose details will remain secret are known to include several who are renting properties from one another and a Labour shadow minister who rents a London home from an offshore trust.
On Monday it emerged that the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) gave MPs several weeks’ notice that the information was about to be published, affording them an opportunity to end potentially embarrassing or compromising arrangements.
The decision to censor claims echoes the previous expenses scandal when MPs attempted to overturn a High Court order which allowed for the publication of second home addresses and which said such a move would not jeopardise security.
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However, that unredacted information was leaked to The Daily Telegraph with details of the addresses, leading to the exposure in 2009 of fraudulent claims by several MPs and dozens of others milking the system.
Despite the previous public outcry, John Bercow, the Speaker, has spent the past weeks attempting to block the release of the new information. Some MPs argued in response that without full transparency, they risk the public suspecting that they continue to benefit personally from the system.
A partial list was finally released on Monday night, almost a month after publication was initially planned, minus details of the 51 MPs. The information released did disclose that:
• At least two MPs are renting from their colleagues. These include Jessica Morden, who rents a property from fellow Labour MP Madeleine Moon. Two other Labour MPs, Iain McKenzie and Linda Riordan, were also exposed for a similar arrangement.
• Six former MPs are continuing to benefit from the parliamentary expenses system by letting out their properties to current MPs. These include Jonathan Shaw, a former Labour MP, who lets a property to Kevin Brennan; and Ian Stewart, another former Labour MP, letting a home to Gerry Sutcliffe.
• Several peers are letting properties to MPs, while also claiming taxpayer-funded expenses in the House of Lords. These include Lord Flight, a former Tory shadow minister, who is letting a property to Keith Simpson, a ministerial aide. Baroness Tonge, a former Liberal Democrat MP, is letting property to Steve Williams, the Lib Dem MP for Bristol West.
• Several MPs are renting properties from some of Britain’s wealthiest families. They include Nick Boles, the planning minister, who is renting a property from the Burghley Estate. Matt Hancock, the business minister, is renting a house from the Vestey family, and Liam Fox, the former defence secretary, is claiming for rent on a property from Viscount Cranborne’s company.
• Two Labour MPs are renting properties from senior union figures. One of them is Tom Watson, the deputy Labour chairman, who rents rooms in the home of a senior executive at Unite.
• Several MPs are also claiming expenses to rent properties from companies linked to high-profile political donors.
Out of 320 MPs claiming for a second home, the 51 who have requested that their landlords’ details are redacted include Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, John Denham, a former Labour minister, Luciana Berger, the shadow energy and climate change minister, and Nadine Dorries, the suspended Conservative MP who is currently appearing in ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
But the Telegraph has confirmed that Ms Berger is renting a flat in London held in an offshore company, which could be embarrassing for the Labour Party who have criticised companies such as Starbucks for not paying tax in Britain.
Ms Berger said that she had requested that her details be redacted for security reasons and had only recently been informed that the flat was held overseas.
Sources close to Mr Clegg said that his landlord was not previously known to him and he had requested the information be withheld for security reasons.
Under changes to the expenses rules introduced in the wake of the previous scandal, MPs were only permitted to continue claiming for mortgage interest until August of this year.
Since then, MPs have been allowed to claim only to rent a second home, to stop them profiting from the system.
Last month, the Telegraph disclosed that at least 27 MPs were letting out their London properties while also claiming rent for other flats. There has been speculation that some MPs may be abusing the new system and standards campaigners have warned against any attempt to hide details of rental arrangements.
Sir Christopher Kelly, the outgoing chairman of the committee on standards in public life, recommended in 2009 that all MPs should rent from a commercial agency to remove any possibility of wrongdoing. On Monday night he said: “The principles here are clear – MPs should be properly reimbursed for costs they incur but not obtain personal financial advantage from the system.”
John Mann, a Labour MP, said that he was against any MPs keeping their landlords’ details secret. “People need to be able to defend what they have done,” he said. “I am not in favour of publishing addresses but everything else should be made public. There is no argument to keep it secret. It gives the impression of something not being right.”
This newspaper understands that MPs were formally approached by Ipsa at the beginning of October with details of the proposed publication of their landlords’ details. But the information finally published related to arrangements on Oct 22, some three weeks later.
This meant MPs could change their rental arrangements before publication.
Last month, the Telegraph disclosed that Kevin Barron, the Labour chairman of the Commons standards and privileges committee, was renting a property from Jon Trickett, a shadow Cabinet minister. But the arrangement ended in September and was not disclosed in the list released on Monday.
On Monday night, Ipsa defended its handling of the information. In a statement, the regulator said: “When releasing information under the Freedom of Information Act, we have a duty to notify the individuals concerned. And, when planning to release information, there is due diligence to be done to ensure that you are acting appropriately and, in this case, not compromising security.
“We publish a huge amount of data. We publish how much MPs claim, and the first part of their postcode. Now we have published the identity of their landlords in 85 per cent of cases. In the cases where we have chosen not to identify the landlord, it is because there are security factors which would have made it imprudent.”
It is understood that details were withheld following advice from the Parliamentary security authorities and after Ipsa checked that their publication could lead to addresses being identified.
There are increasing concerns over Parliamentary interference in the operation of Ipsa, which is supposed to be independent. Last week, the entire board of the regulator resigned after the Speaker forced them to reapply for their jobs to a committee that he had appointed.
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MPs' expenses
In MPs' expenses
How the Daily Telegraph exposed the dry rot fraudster
Bizarre MPs' expense claims
Keeping it in the family
More claims by numbers
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