Sunday Times, page 14:
“Brandon Lewis, the housing Minister, has claimed more than £30,000 from the taxpayer for hotel accommodation in London for 2 years, despite owning three houses, two of them less than an hour by train from Westminster”.
Of course, Lewis has broken no rules.
Additionally, his Chelmsford home is on green belt land and was originally limited to occupation by agricultural workers, but its former owner successfully applied to have the restriction lifted.
He also hit the headlines when he rented out his home in his constituency and rented a flat there instead.
During his election campaign he said “Like everyone else, I was angry and disgusted at the behaviour of some members of Parliament at Westminster. nIt has taken a new generation of MPs to end the cosy arrangements that allowed individuals to apparently profit from the taxpayer”
The Sunday Times goes on: “Neighbours living close to his home in [his constituency] in Yarmouth claimed that he was rarely seen there. “He was here for a while before the election but generally we see him very infrequently” … “Once every so often there will be loads of cars parked there … a few times a year”.
Unlike our own dear MP Hugo Swire, who doesn’t even have his second home in our constituency, preferring a completely different part of Devon. Still, at least it is in Devon. Though we do not know how often he uses it, given that he jets to exotic parts of the world most weeks, and whether he deigns to visit his constituency when he IS there.
But so cheering to know that our Housing Minister has such wide experience of housing himself.
East Devon Watch 