Suella Braverman claimed more than £700 in MP expenses towards the costs of a flat she was no longer living in.
The Home Secretary has not paid it back, despite renting the home out for profit during the period for which she had received the payout. In February 2019, Braverman claimed £1200 for the service charge on an apartment in Pimlico, Central London, for six months, from March 25 to September 28.
But the Commons Register of Members’ Financial Interests shows she moved out on June 6 – and earned rent on it from July 20. Under the expenses system run by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, she should have returned £731.55 after moving out.
After it was alerted to the error, IPSA said yesterday: “In 2019, IPSA made a routine payment relating to a service charge. The MP subsequently moved properties and a repayment became due. The subsequent repayment was missed by both parties.
“A repayment has been requested. With all business costs it is the responsibility of the MP to comply.”
In 2019, Braverman, then a junior Brexit minister in Theresa May’s Government, was on the electoral roll at the flat along with her husband Rael. The following year both were registered at a house in Mill Hill, London. A spokesman for Braverman declined to comment but a source close to her said: “She had a baby that July, that’s why she moved out.”
Yesterday we revealed how Braverman was using taxpayers’ money to pay utility bills on her £1.2million London home. She has claimed nearly £25,000 in household bills in five years. The IPSA payouts are intended to ensure out-of-London MPs are not out of pocket running two homes. But when in her constituency, Braverman stays rent-free in her parents’ home in Fareham, Hampshire.
Her claims do not break the rules. Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “This looks like an attempt to game the rules.”
Lib Dem Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain said: “Even if it is within the rules, it isn’t within the spirit.”
A source close to Braverman would not say if she has paid any costs to her parents.
Asked whether her claims were fair for taxpayers, the prime minister’s spokesman said yesterday: “IPSA set the rules.” Pressed on whether the PM was confident the Home Secretary had adhered to the spirit of the rules, he said: “I’m not aware of the particular circumstances. There’s no suggestion she’s broken the rules.”
Last year Braverman refused to back raising benefits in line with inflation, saying that a “Benefits Street culture” existed in the UK.
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