Taxpayers ‘effectively funding’ Welsh political parties
By Liz Stephens
Welsh MPs and members of the Welsh Assembly have been accused today of using taxpayer money to fund political parties, after details of their expenses were published.
Political parties in Wales have been paid almost £500,000 from public funds over the past two years for office space for their assembly members and MPs.
However, in some cases the parties own the buildings where the offices are located.
Assembly Members and MPs often share office facilities at the same address – which accounts for around half of the office arrangements across Welsh constituencies.
However, contrary to the expected savings that such shared arrangements should make, the data provided from expenses claims and local party accounts registered at the Electoral Commission, indicates that some local parties appear to be receiving a higher level of rent than the market average for similar facilities in the area.
The four main parties received at least £242,000 in 2008/9 in rental payments from Welsh assembly and parliamentary authorities.
While none of these claims are against existing rules, the Taxpayers’ Alliance has described this as a “staggering amount of money”, with the taxpayer “effectively funding political parties”.
Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, has argued that the question of the true market value of the rent charged to the taxpayer is crucial.
“If the charges are being levied for the accommodation well above the market rate – then it’s a diversion of public funds to political parties,” he said.
Next week, an Independent Review Panel chaired by Sir Roger Jones will publish a report that is expected to lead to changes in the rules for financial support provided for assembly members.
The report will question whether or not the Welsh taxpayer should pay political parties for providing constituency or regional offices to their elected politicians.
Almost 2,000 hits were made on the National Assembly’s new online log of Assembly Members’ expenses in the first 24 hours.
