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Originally Posted by nomadking
He apparently can easily afford to own his own London residence and so would not need to rent anywhere.
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I do not disagree with that, as I have said earlier. I think any MP who can afford it should pay for their own accommodation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nomadking
He used the expenses system to intentionally make a profit for someone close to him.
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How so? I think that is a rather bold accusation.
Laws paid rent to his partner, & claimed expenses for it.
Laws' partner later sold the London property for a profit.
Laws then re-mortgaged his own constituency home to help his partner purchase a new property in London.
Laws continued to claim back his share of the costs of living in the property with his partner.
How was the expenses system used to make a profit? All he did was use it to pay rent to his partner, no different than if he was paying rent to a normal professional landlord. Living with your partner does not mean you live for free, there would still be contributions required just as if renting from a landlord rather than one who was also his partner.
As I said before, he claimed *less* than he would have done if he had been open about his personal life instead of wanting it to remain private, as he could have been open about his relationship & officially co-owned a property, and subsequently claimed the full £20k per year (as many MPs did!) instead of the lower amount he actually claimed.
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Originally Posted by David Laws
I claimed back the costs of sharing a home in Kennington with James from 2001 to June 2007. In June 2007, James bought a new home in London and I continued to claim back my share of the costs. I extended the mortgage on my Somerset property, for which I do not claim any allowances or expenses, to help James purchase the new property.
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