To be fair, we expect MPs to be in two places at once, so we should be paying for this. Not all MPs are rich. £300k for 650 is less than £500 per MP.
Yeah, this is a pretty nothing story. Seems like it is just trying to generate outrage. I wonder if all this could be solved by the government simply buying 650 residences in London and assigning them to sitting MPs while covering all the bills and maintainancne on those properties but it would probably be much more expensive
I always kind of felt they should consider popping them all in a student style halls of residence. 4 bathrooms and 2 kitchens per 20 people. If you need something “posher”, you can pay for it yourself.
Also rather than sticking it right down at the bottom of the country, pop it in the middle, in Birmingham or Leeds or somewhere suchlike. There’s not a lot of reason to have all the government decisions made in London.
Not if they build more social housing in greater London (like they’ve been fucking promising for over a decade) and allocate the mp housing among it.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
MPs’ claims for gas, electricity and water amounted to £292,000 in 2022-23, according to an analysis of data from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
It marks a significant increase on last year’s bill for MPs’ utilities, which totalled £253,000 – a reflection of the spike in gas and electricity prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ruth London, founder of the Fuel Poverty Action campaign group, said the expenses figures showed that MPs “live in a different world from most of the people they are paid to represent”.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock has been one of the highest spenders on utilities since 2019 – racking up taxpayer-funded fuel and water bills of £9,380 at his constituency home.
Labour frontbenchers Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband, Liz Kendall, Louise Haigh, Hilary Benn, Nick Thomas-Symonds and Pat McFadden are among the senior party figures who put in similar claims.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “While MPs are insulated from the pain of the energy bills crisis, their constituents have been paying twice what they were a couple of years ago for their electricity and gas.”
The original article contains 629 words, the summary contains 188 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
