Expenses scandal? Corbyn aide 'takes £260k of TAXPAYER MONEY for home that DOES NOT EXIST'
A LABOUR peer and senior aide to Jeremy Corbyn has reportedly been involved in a major expenses scandal after pocketing £260,000 of taxpayers’ money since 2010 for a second home that does not exist, an investigation claims.
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Lord Bassam is one of a handful of Lords’ frontbenchers entitled to a Lords Office Holders Allowance (LOHA), currently £36,366 a year, due to his position as Labour’s Chief Whip in the House of Lords and because his main home is not in London.
However, Lord Bassam has pocketed the money and joined commuters on the hour-long trip between Brighton and the capital instead of spending it on a second home in London or hotel bills.
The Labour peer has also admitted he was wrong to take £41,000 in travel expenses for commuting between Westminster and his Brighton home.
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Lord Bassam has promised to pay back up to £41,000.
He told the Mail on Sunday: “I will not be submitting any further claims in this way. I will also discuss the steps necessary to repay previous travel claims including those made since the [2017] Election.”
When asked to justify his LOHA payments, he said: “Regarding the Office Holders Allowance, I have not been advised that any breach of the rules has taken place.”
However, Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Commons Committee on Standards in Public Life, said has said the Labour peer should pay back much more.
Sir Alistair said: “It is clearly indefensible that he should take the extra allowance designed to cover accommodation in London. He should pay that back in full rather than the travel expenses.
“It is extraordinary that such a situation has arisen after the great MPs’ expenses furore. He should have learned a lesson from that.”
If Lord Bassam were to repay the housing allowance he has taken, the total would exceed any amount refunded by an MP in the 2009 expenses scandal.
The news comes after earlier this year it was revealed that shameless House of Lords peers had been ripping off taxpayers for thousands of pounds as it emerged they turned up to work to actually do nothing.
The scandal prompted calls to reform the system after it emerged a greedy 17 claimed £424,637 of taxpayers’ cash between them in the past year - but failed to speak, submit a written question or sit on a committee.
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The shock report found Labour peer Lord Kirkhill pocketed the most, with £43,896, followed by Scottish Labour peer Baroness Adams who took home £41,287.
Out of 17, nine of them made more in expenses than the average Briton’s salary of £22,226 a year.
Campaign group Unlock Democracy said it was “indefensible” and called for fundamental reform.
