‘Insulated from pain’: MPs claimed £200,000 to pay utility bills on second homes last year

MPs charged taxpayers almost £200,000 for energy bills and other utilities at their second homes over the past year, new analysis by The Independent has found.

Campaigners said the findings showed that Britain’s elected representatives were partly “insulated” from financial pain during the cost of living crisis, since much of their energy costs are covered by the public purse.

Politicians with seats outside London are allowed to put utility bills on expenses at one of their homes – whether it is in the capital or in their constituency.

MPs’ claims for gas, electricity and water amounted to just over £195,000 in 2021-22, according to an analysis of data from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

Over the past three years, MPs have claimed just over £692,000 to cover these utility costs – with £538,000 alone going on heating bills.

Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss – who will come under pressure to provide more support with soaring energy bills if she becomes PM next week – has charged taxpayers £2,367 for gas, electricity and water bills at one of her homes over the past three years.

Ms Truss’s rival Rishi Sunak did not claim for household utility costs, but other ministers and senior figures in line for top jobs are among the 301 MPs who have put utility bills on expenses over the past year.

Suella Braverman, tipped to become home secretary if Ms Truss wins the leadership contest, has claimed £7,160 for household utilities since 2019-20, IPSA figures show. Education secretary James Cleverly, reportedly in line to be promoted to foreign secretary, has racked up £4,142 in energy and water bills in the same three-year period.

Among the senior Labour MPs claiming for utilities, deputy leader Angela Rayner has received £2,318 to cover energy and water bills since 2019. Shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband has received £2,270 for household utilities in the same period.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition – an umbrella group representing 60 charities, unions and civil society organisations – questioned whether MPs could understand the full impact of the soaring bills.

Simon Francis, coordinator of the group, told The Independent: “On the basis of these findings, it looks like MPs will stay warm this winter – unlike the reality for millions of their constituents.”

Ruth London, from Fuel Poverty Action, said MPs would not be affected in quite the same way as their constituents when the energy price cap rises by 80 per cent in October. “It adds insult to injury that people are paying their wages – and paying for support with some of their bills – while suffering from the policies they are passing,” she said.

Ms London added: “There’s a problem when the people making the rules, the people passing legislation on energy, don’t get affected by the problem in quite the same way.”

The total amount claimed by MPs for energy and water as a business cost in 2021-22 fell from the previous year’s total of £234,000. But the figure charged to the public purse is expected to soar in the months ahead.

Average annual energy bills are set to climb above £3,500 from October, and it is predicted that they could top £4,200 when the price cap is raised again in January.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group called for a limit on the amount that MPs can claim for utilities for their second homes. The group argued that current rules mean politicians have no incentive to constrain their energy use during the cost of living crisis.

Darwin Friend, policy analyst at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said the public would be “rightly concerned” about MPs’ unlimited facility to claim for gas and electricity costs for one of their properties.

“With energy prices soaring and the tax burden at a 70-year high, taxpayers will rightly be concerned that their hard-earned cash is being used to insulate MPs from the cost of living crisis,” said Mr Friend.

Ms Truss and other senior MPs have been contacted for comment.