Braverman’s Channel migrants scheme won’t work
Spectator (UK)MAR 10 2023
The Mirror on Monday published reports that UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed nearly £25K in expenses over five years to pay household bills for her London residence, all while staying rent-free with her parents in Fareham when visiting her constituency.
While her actions did not violate expense rules, Braverman has faced criticism for allegedly breaking the spirit of the system and taking advantage of a loophole to subsidize her household income.
Parliamentary rules allow MPs representing constituencies outside London to fund accommodation and associated costs in a second location of up to £25K for renting in the capital and almost £18K for outside in the 2022-23 year.
It is no coincidence that outspoken attacks against Home Secretary Suella Braverman have come in the run-up to the local parliamentary election for the new seat of Fareham and Waterlooville, in which she will face Tory In Name Only rival Flick Drummond. Braverman has bounced back from a difficult 2022, unashamedly fighting nonsensical political correctness that has been protecting child grooming gangs from facing justice. The expenses story is a distraction from more important issues.
Braverman embodies the hypocrisy of the Conservatives, as she is using the parliamentary expenses system to her own advantage while the government cuts subsidies towards energy bills, leaving many households worse off and facing food and fuel poverty. Though she has made a moral point of imposing tougher sanctions on beggars, she has herself been making an easy living at the expense of taxpayers.