Sarah Teather, the Lib Dem MP for Brent East who does not claim the allowance, said her commute takes 30 minutes on the Tube and it was "appalling" that other MPs in a similar position claimed for a second home.
She said: "I am eligible to claim it which is ridiculous, it\’s absurd and my constituents would be astonished if I did. I see some of them on the Tube on the way to work and see some of the same people on the way home. They don\’t need a second home to go to after work and they wouldn\’t expect me to."
Miss Teather, who has tabled a motion calling for the abolition of the second homes allowance, lives a short distance from Barry Gardiner, the Labour MP for the neighbouring constituency of Brent North, who claimed £86,687 between 2002 and 2007, the only years for which figures are available.
She added: "There are 20,000 families in Brent waiting for affordable housing. These people are desperate for one place to live and it\’s appalling there are so many MPs claiming taxpayers\’ money to get a second home in London. It\’s completely unjustified and the public won\’t wear it."
But fair play Ms. Teather, fair play.
Get each prospective candidate to submit, at the time of standing for election the monthly price they demand for being an MP for the following term of office. That includes their salary, travel costs, office costs, staff, sons they want to employ etc. No breakdown, just the cost they want us to pay and they can spend it on anything they want. This amount will then be written on the ballot paper under their name, and the amount will come from the constituents.
If at any point, they can’t run their office on that sum, they can stand down and a new election is called where they, along with other candidates are welcome to submit revised sums.
It gets round all sorts of problems of what particular MPs need. If one candidate can manage without a second home, then he’ll be able to submit a more competitive figure than the MP who can’t. Chances are that someone standing for a Highland constituency will manage just fine without.
The worst case is probably the two Keens. Anne and Alan, married, holding two adjacent constituencies in London, and both claim £86,000 in second home allowance.
The constituencies are served by national rail (to Paddington and Waterloo), the District, Picadilly and Central lines (at least).
It would not take long to commute, as thousands of others do, and at their own expense too.
Sarah Teather has intregrity. MPs who claim the second home allowance when their constituencies are in London should be made to pay it back and prosecuted for fraud.
Is there a correlation between abuses and size of majority? A job for life tends to push people toward self serving behaviour.