MPs' expenses: Claim for cost of bailiffs
An MP who employs his wife to work in his constituency office billed the taxpayer for bailiff fees after the property’s rent fell into arrears.
Debt collectors were sent to the offices of Sir Peter Soulsby, where his wife Alison works for part of the week as his secretary, after he fell behind with his rent in October 2007.
The fees office agreed that the Labour MP for Leicester South should not be liable for the £472.59 bailiff’s bill and reimbursed him.
Sir Peter had arranged for the fees office to pay the £2,423 quarterly rent and service charge for his constituency office, close to Leicester’s city centre, direct to the landlord.
However, a request from Sir Peter’s office for the amount to be paid “went astray” and he slipped into arrears. He blamed the landlord because of a dispute over service charges.
A note on the letter by one of the fees office staff states: “OK to pay, charges do not appear to have been within the member’s control.”
Sir Peter also blamed the fees office. He said: “It was entirely the fees office’s fault that the bill for office rent had not been paid. They had failed to process the original bill – sent almost a month earlier for direct payment by them – or the resubmitted bill sent to them for payment nine days before the bailiffs arrived.”
Sir Peter, a former member of the Audit Commission, also fell behind on the business rates for his constituency office and was sent a final reminder by Leicester City Council – of which he used to be leader – before it was paid. Mrs Soulsby is paid £25,000 a year by the taxpayer to work as his secretary. Sir Peter said she spends Monday mornings at the Leicester office before travelling to London to work for him at Westminster. She returns to the Leicester office on Fridays.
While in London on parliamentary business, Sir Peter and his wife live in a luxury apartment situated in the former headquarters of MI6.
Sir Peter is reimbursed more than £2,000 a month in mortgage interest payments on the flat in the sought-after Perspective building, which enjoys stunning views of the London skyline. Sir Peter was elected as an MP in May 2005. He initially rented a flat in Kennington, south London, for £1473.33 a month. After his election, Sir Peter began furnishing the property, spending more than £1,150 over a two-week period.
In September 2006 Sir Peter bought the apartment in the Perspective building for £380,000 and designated this as his second home.
He was reimbursed £12,826 for moving costs including stamp duty, as well as his monthly mortgage interest payments of £2,057.33 – well above the limit of £1,205 now being proposed – and a quarterly service charge of £831.58 on the apartment.
Sir Peter said that his claims were “reasonable”, adding that he was one of only 27 MPs who voted against the Bill to block them from publishing their expenses by exempting the Commons from the Freedom of Information Act.
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