A list of more than 300 MPs who are renting houses has been revealed under the Freedom of Information Act despite attempts by the Speaker of the House of Commons trying to block the publication. 

The list details landlords renting to around 300 MPs who are claiming rent payments on expenses.

Channel 4’s Dispatches report:

On Monday, Dispatches received a list of landlords renting to around 300 MPs who are claiming this on expenses. It is is the first time this list has been published and follows a battle with the parliamentary authorities following a Freedom of Information request was initially stalled by an intervention from Commons’ Speaker John Bercow.

Equalities Minister Helen Grant has been forced to defend claiming the maximum expenses for a second home in London despite living just 19 miles from the Commons.

Mrs Grant, appointed to the Ministry of Justice in September’s reshuffle, lives in a £1.8m home in Reigate, Surrey – outside her Maidstone constituency. She also rents a Thameside flat near the MI6 building in Vauxhall which is funded on expenses

You can read the full story here, and you can watch the show here. 

 

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.