Five ministers in Boris Johnson’s government are among a group of MPs who have claimed more than £1m from the taxpayer to cover their rent payments, while letting properties that they own in London.
Some 17 landlord MPs – 15 Conservatives and two Labour – have put their housing costs on expenses while earning more than £10,000 a year each renting out their own properties in recent years.
A study of The independent shows that five current ministers have also demanded rents while renting housing in the capital, including International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Defense Minister Ben Wallace, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Prison Minister Victoria Atkins and Junior Finance Minister John Glen.
It comes as Mr Johnson’s government faces growing pressure over a deluge of “sleaze” allegations following last week’s failed attempt to tear up the disciplinary process and save former Tory MP Owen Paterson from suspension.
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said that the recent findings on leisure centres by The independent was “shocking”. He called for an end to the “loophole” that allowed property owners MPs to put their own rent on expenses and stay within the rules. The standard veteran said: “It may be within the rules, but it is completely wrong for MPs to spend public money in this way. MPs have a duty to demand only public funds that are necessary.”
Sir Alistair added: “If there is an opportunity to close the loophole that allows them to do this, then we must take it. There is a growing sense that the rules need to change.”
Over the last five years, 17 MPs have demanded over £ 1.3m. in taxpayer-funded rent, while they have collected thousands of rents to rent out properties in the capital, according to posts published by the Independent Parliamentary Standardization Authority (IPSA).
Ms Trevelyan, the trade secretary, has been claiming £ 106,000 in expenses for her own rent payments since April 2016. She is also claiming a rental income on an apartment in London, which she registered after entering parliament in 2015.
Wallace, the Secretary of Defense, demanded more than £ 110,000 in taxpayer-financed rent between April 2016 and July 2020 – a period in which he also charged rent on a property in London.
Sir. Cleverly has been claiming more than £ 71,000 in expenses for his own rent payments since April 2016. The former Tory party chairman charges the taxpayer £ 1,200 a month for the apartment he lives in, while receiving an income from a jointly owned residential property in London.
It is understood that the Minister for the Interior, Mrs Atkins’ claim for more than £ 43,000 in rent since April 2018, relates to her constituency home in Lincolnshire. Since April 2018, she has also charged rent on a house in London.
Other Tory MPs who have demanded rental expenses while renting out residential properties in London include former Commerce Secretary Dr. Liam Fox, former media minister John Whittingdale, Philip Davies, Robert Goodwill, Laurence Robertson, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Anne Marie Morris and Greg Knight.
Conservative backer Damian Collins has the largest single rental expense, claiming just over £ 148,000 from taxpayers over the past five years, all the while receiving a rental income from property in London.
Labor MP Geraint Davies has demanded just over £ 67,000 in taxpayer funding to rent a home between November 2017 and April 2021 – a period in which he also charged rent payments to rent out a property he owns in the capital.
Clive Betts, a colleague from Labor, demanded just over £ 44,000 for rent between April 2016 and June 2018, during the same period as he also demanded rental income on a house in London.
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