A Labour shadow minister is renting a taxpayer-funded flat just a few miles from her husband’s home to avoid a 46-minute commute to work.
Cat Smith who has been the Member of Parliament for Lancaster and Fleetwood since 2015, has submitted claimed for £15,000 to cover her first seven months for the apartment, just across the river from the Houses of Parliament in Lambeth.
The bills she claimed for include the rent, council tax, utility bills and all letting agents’ fees.
Miss Smith who is a close ally of the former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, is currently living in the flat with her husband Ben Soffa who is the Labour Party’s head of digital organising along with their young son.
However, it has come to Unity News Network’s attention that Mr Soffa owns a flat in a modern apartment block just six miles away in East London.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said last night called out the hypocrisy of some MPs, he said: “Labour talk about the housing crisis, especially in London, but it would appear Cat Smith and her husband have an empty property which they could be occupying, while living in a taxpayer-funded flat. The hypocrisy of the Left is breath-taking.”
Tory grandee Lord Tebbit added: “I’m sure the right thing for them to do as principled members of the Labour Party would be to give their (East London) flat rent-free to one of the homeless about who the Labour Party are so concerned.”
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Overburdened taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay for MPs living in London to shave minutes off their morning commute. Accommodation expenses, like all the rest, should only be claimed when actually needed.”
A neighbour in the East London apartment block where Mr Soffa owns his apartment said she had not seen the couple for more than a year, she claimed: “I haven’t seen them since March 2019,
“They were nice people and I had no complaints. But I pay a lot of tax, so it p****s me off.”
A spokesman for Miss Smith and Mr Soffa said: “Everything has been done entirely properly and in line with the rules that apply to all MPs.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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