Ministers and shadow cabinet members are claiming up to £3,300 a month to cover rent on a second home, research by Sky News can reveal.
MPs are allowed to expense the costs of a second property to either have a base in their constituency or somewhere to stay when they travel to parliament, if their seat is outside of London.
But the accommodation expense reports for the senior MPs – collected and published by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) – show the costs vary widely.
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Sky News has looked at the declarations of what has been paid and claimed so far for 2022/23 for all members of parliament that are in the Conservative cabinet or Labour’s shadow cabinet.
According to one of London’s largest estate agents, Foxtons, the average rental price of a one bedroom flat in Westminster is £2,036 per calendar month.
However, veterans minister Johnny Mercer, who represents Plymouth, has claimed back £3,300 per month for his rented accommodation in London, totalling £23,100 for the period – the highest of any of the senior politicians we looked at.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat – whose constituency is the Kent commuter town of Tonbridge – had the second-highest Tory claim, coming in at £2,400 a month or £19,200 in total. We asked Mr Tugendhat to clarify where the property was, but we did not get a response.
He was followed by immigration minister Robert Jenrick, who claimed £2,000 a month when away from his Newark constituency, or £16,000 for the year so far.
On Labour’s frontbench, the highest rent claim came from shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who has expensed £3,141.66 per month when staying in London away from his Stalybridge and Hyde constituency in the North West – a total of £21,991.62 for the period.
However, it is understood by Sky News to be a three bedroom property used by his whole family.
He was followed by shadow international development secretary and Birmingham Edgbaston MP Preet Kaur Gill, who claimed £2,600 a month or £20,8000 for the period – although Sky understands she has a two bedroom home for her and her children.
Following was Labour’s deputy leader, Ashton-under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner, who claimed £2,491.67 a month – £19,933.36 for the period – but also has two dependents.
All of the above amounts are within the annual budget limit set by IPSA of £25,080 for London rental properties or £17,840 for constituency properties.
If an MP has a dependent – a child under 18 – living with them, their maximum budget is increased by £5,720 per child, up to a maximum of three.
IPSA has defended the rules it sets, saying: “Covering accommodation costs is an essential part of helping politics to become accessible to all.
“Without the accommodation budget, an MP would either have to work in only one location or pay for a second accommodation themselves. This would prevent people from lower-income backgrounds from becoming MPs.
“It is vital for our democracy that we have a representative, functioning parliament, and we are committed to providing the financial support necessary for this to happen.”
The organisation added: “MPs’ second homes are not a luxury or a ‘perk’, they are necessary for an MP to do their job.
“The IPSA accommodation budget is there to ensure that MPs are not out of pocket from having to work in two locations.”
As well as rent, MPs are allowed to expense “associated costs” for their second home, including utility bills.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace claimed the highest amount when it came to those costs – a total of £4,811.35 for both electricity and heating oil at his home in South Lakeland, near his constituency of Wyre and Preston North.
It is understood he has three dependents living with him at the property, and his main home is in London.
Sky News also understands a large portion of the bill – £3,790.65 – accounted for energy used in the previous year, but the payment and claim was made in the 2022/23 period.
The second-highest utilities claim was by Labour’s Ian Murray, who expensed £1,932.16 of bills at his London property for when he travels down from his Edinburgh constituency.
That amount included four months of bills from the previous financial year – £654.12 – that he paid and claimed in 2022/23 at the end of his tenancy, and he does not claim back his rent.
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The third-largest claim came from Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who expensed £1,490.58 for gas, electric and water bills in the same period.
Earlier this week, the Daily Mirror revealed she was making the claim on her family home in Hertfordshire and was staying with her parents for free when she did visit her Hampshire seat of Fareham – again, within the rules, but some argued it was not “in the spirit” of them.
When all the accommodation costs were brought together, it was Mr Wallace who put in the biggest claim – a total of £27,259.83 to cover council tax, phone and internet costs, rent, ground rent and service charge, and utilities at his constituency property.
The highest claim from Labour came from Mr Reynolds, who expensed £24,758.69 for council tax and his rent.
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Some MPs choose to use hotels when coming to the capital for parliament, rather than having a second home, which they can expense under the rules as well – up to £190 a night.
The Conservative cabinet claimed £39,381.05 on rooms between five MPs in the 2022/23 filings, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper, who represents the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, expensing the most at a total of £16,547.60.
A source close to Mr Harper said he took the decision to use hotels when he was a backbencher as he was only in London two nights a week and it “offered more value to the taxpayer”.
But after being promoted to cabinet, he has now started renting a flat as he is in London up to four nights a week.
The source added: “Mark is very pro the increased transparency and has a track record of being scrupulous about value for the taxpayer.”
No Labour shadow cabinet member claimed back money for a London hotel room.
A number of cabinet members are allocated so-called “grace and favour” accommodation when in government, making them ineligible to claim on second homes.
They include Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who lives in Number 10, and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who lives in Number 11.
A property in Carlton Gardens has also been allocated to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, and there are rooms available to use for accommodation in Admiralty House – though Downing Street said they were used in one-off capacities, rather than long-term stays.
Several MPs in both the Tory and Labour top teams also have London constituencies, meaning they are not entitled to claim on second homes either, including Sir Keir Starmer, Tory chairman Greg Hands and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy.
Every MP mentioned in the article has been contacted by Sky News for a response.