New MP in second home spotlight
By politics.co.uk staff
Dawn Butler, junior whip, is being questioned over the use of taxpayer funds for a second home in London, despite having a family home only eight miles away.
The focus on Ms Butler comes a day after employment minister Tony McNulty was reported to the parliamentary standards watchdog over a similar case.
But Ms Butler claims far more than Mr McNulty, taking £23,000 for the second home in north-west London, where her constituency is based. Critics say she could easily spend the night in her family home in east London.
The Stratford home is a 24 minute Tube ride away from Westminster, while the house in Wembley is a 32 minute Tube ride.
“It is difficult to see how an MP having two homes equidistant from Westminster helps them with their duties,” Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat transport spokesman said.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It is an insult to ordinary taxpayers that their hard-earned money is being abused in this way. Dawn Butler should be ashamed of herself for cashing in at taxpayers’ expense while her constituents are struggling to make ends meet.”
Two dozen MPs with seats in London claim public money for a second home, about half of those eligible.
Gordon Brown launched another inquiry into MPs’ allowances yesterday, the third since Derek Conway was caught paying his son for work out of the public purse.
But Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg attacked the timing of the inquiry, saying its conclusion – due after the election – is simply too far away.
“Gordon Brown, David Cameron and myself could sit down tomorrow morning and just agree a new set of rules,” Mr Clegg told the BBC.
