Labour’s new deputy leader is among a cohort of MPs being allowed to rent flats to each other at the taxpayer’s expense despite a crackdown being promised more than a decade ago.
Figures obtained by the Daily Mail reveal that five landlord MPs received more than £30,000 in public money last year for letting properties to their colleagues in the House of Commons.
The Parliamentary pay watchdog, which first said that it would review the practice in 2012 after a scandal first exposed by this newspaper, has recently stopped new tenancies being agreed over fears of conflicts of interest.
But it is quietly allowing existing arrangements to continue as long as the landlord MP does not also claim rent for their own second home on expenses, as several had previously.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) refused to name them, saying: ‘Due to the low numbers of MPs who are landlords we believe that disclosing the names would have a substantial likelihood of attracting the interest of those with malicious intent who wish to cause harm.’
But the Daily Mail discovered that among those given permission to continue renting out a room in her London property to a fellow MP is Lucy Powell, who was named Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy on Saturday after beating Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in a vote among the party membership.
Ipsa said the total amount of public money paid to landlord politicians in 2024-25 was £32,955. But Powell’s allies insist the arrangement saves taxpayers money.
In 2012 Ipsa admitted that four MPs were letting properties to others. And in the wake of the scandal it said it would ‘consider the issue of MPs renting from other MPs’.
Labour’s new deputy leader is among a cohort of MPs being allowed to rent flats to each other at the taxpayer’s expense
Lucy Powell was named Sir Keir Starmer’s deputy on Saturday after beating Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in a vote among the party membership
But it allowed the practice to continue and figures obtained by the Daily Mail under the Freedom of Information Act show that five MPs were still the tenants of their colleagues last year.
And Ipsa claimed that from the start of the current financial year, it would ‘no longer permit MPs to rent accommodation from other MPs using Ipsa funding’.
But it admitted to this newspaper that it was not a blanket ban.
On Sunday night Tom Brake, of pressure group Unlock Democracy, told the Daily Mail: ‘There is only one way to knock on the head any prospect or perception of mates doing each other favours: stop MPs renting properties to other MPs in any circumstances and with immediate effect. With trust in politicians on the floor, half measures simply won’t do.’
And John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘Taxpayers will be furious that MPs are playing musical chairs with their money, renting out properties to each other and pocketing thousands in the process.
‘The expenses system should serve the public, not act as a cash machine for politicians. This cosy arrangement needs urgent reform.’
It comes after a series of scandals involving Labour MPs who let flats to members of the public. In August Rushanara Ali was forced to quit as homelessness minister over accusations she evicted her tenants then hiked the rent, while Labour MP Jas Athwal was branded a slum landlord whose flats had black mould and were infested with ants.
An Ipsa spokesman said: ‘Ipsa is taking a proportionate approach where existing arrangements are not using Ipsa funds and provide value for money for taxpayers.’
