The London allowance is around c£1,400 pcm for a single person and c£1,800 pcm for an MP with a young child. This is probably equivalent in Hyndburn to a maximum of £425pcm and £550pcm.
I understand one MP nearby has (and still may) sleep at his friends flat. One takes the maximum amount for a single person (lower) but tops it up privately which begs the question how will this show up in any league table of rents and postcodes? One I believe has a property with a much lower mortgage (saving the taxpayer money), not an option new MP's like myself were even entitled to.
People who print a perverted version of expenses send out the message that politics is for millionaires who can hide their expenses; they also send out the message that politics isn't for families especially working class families. No wonder Parliament is stuffed MP's from private schools educated at Eton or Oxbridge.
I would add that those that make cheap attacks on working class MP's are an anathema to me. I cannot understand their logic as they tend to be the people who then take to internet websites to claim with glee that MP's and Parliament are out of touch. A self-smug perverse logic?
Dear Member of Parliament,
We are in receipt of a
Freedom of Information (FOI) request relating to claims made under the MPs’
Scheme of Business Costs and Expenses for rented accommodation. The
request sought the disclosure of the names of MPs and the postcodes for which
rental accommodation is claimed.
As you will be aware, we consulted formally on our
publication policy in 2010. The consultation included discussions with both the
Serjeant-at-Arms and with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on the
security implications of releasing information relating to MPs’
addresses. It was agreed, with the support of the ICO that the
publication of only the first half of MPs’ postcodes struck the correct
balance between transparency and security. On 18 November 2010, our Chief
Executive, Andrew McDonald, wrote to all MPs providing details of the policy,
the information that would be published or otherwise made publicly available
and inviting any MP with particular security concerns to contact us.
For your reference, the publication policy states:
“We will not publish the
following information:
-
details of MPs’ addresses in receipt of
funding from IPSA, other than the first alphabetical block and the first
numerical block of the postcode, for example:
i.
SW1 [***]
ii.
IP21 [***]”
This is to confirm that, in
line with the policy, you are one of 307 MPs for whom we have released names
and the first alphabetical block and the first numerical block of the
postcode relating to the property you rent.
It is our standard practice
to place any information released under FOI onto our website and so, by the end
of September 2012, we will upload the response we have provided.
If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact us via the following details:
· Phone us between 1pm and 5pm at: 020 7811 6400
· Please quote the following reference when contacting
us: FOI2012-A063a
Kind regards,
Tom Jenkins
Freedom of Information
Officer
Independent
Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA)
7th Floor
Portland House
Bressenden Place
London, SW1E 5BH
Tel: 020 7811
6400
