A fifth of Tory MPs have increased the amount they charge taxpayers for rent while their party inflicted a real-terms cut in housing benefits on the UK’s poorest tenants, openDemocracy can reveal.
MPs representing constituencies outside London are entitled to expense some or all of the rental costs of a second home. Some 69 Conservative MPs have not moved house but are claiming more for rent than they did three years ago, according to figures obtained from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).
Several MPs confirmed to openDemocracy that their increased claims are due to their landlords charging them more – despite housing benefit claimants across the UK having to shoulder similar increases themselves.
