New Labour MP Living In London Student Accommodation For £80 Per Night
3 min read
A new Labour MP has been living in £80-per-night student accommodation since the election to get the best value for money for taxpayers.
Patrick Hurley, Labour MP for Southport, told PoliticsHome he had been staying in a small apartment used for university students at the London School of Economics (LSE) since being elected on 4 July.
He has lodged there for three nights a week and said he has plans to move somewhere on a more long-term basis after party conference season finishes at the end of September.
An MP will usually live in two properties to help them work from both Westminster and their constituencies, and will use expenses to pay for their property in London.
The Southport MP said he preferred to see his accommodation as a “box" as opposed to a second home. He said it was not his long-term plan to stay in the room for the entire Parliament, and was not ideal for a 50-year-old who planned to travel to and from Westminster every week from his constituency.
“What I found is that at LSE, while the students aren’t there throughout the summer, they rent out rooms to overwhelmingly [holiday-goers] but also anybody that wants a room for the night. And the rates, I'll be honest, the rates are cheap as chips,” he said.
“For a few weeks over the summer, and a few weeks up until the conference recess is over, I was quite happy to do that, and make sure that the taxpayer isn't on the hook for excessive expenses,” Hurley said.
The Labour MP said he has been living alongside families, who were renting out rooms during the summer holidays. He said before travelling to Parliament in the morning he regularly picks up a sausage sandwich from the canteen.
“It’s almost like a Butlin’s in central London, which wasn’t what I was expecting when I got elected. It does the trick.”
Hurley, who is Southport's first ever Labour MP, said he did not know a single MP who was living out of student accommodation but knew plenty of others who were “living out of hotels” and “B&B's".
Hurley believes the timing of the General Election meant it was not reasonable for the taxpayer to fund more expensive London accommodation. MPs had a four-week recess over the summer which was truncated due to the election, as well a three-and-half-week recess for the political party conferences. The majority of MPs spend most of recess in their constituencies, rather than in Parliament.
However, he said he believed more could be done to alleviate the housing crisis in central London for new MPs moving down for the first time. Out of 650 people elected in July, 335 had never been an MP before.
“MPs don't get provided with accommodation when they get elected, and it's all on ourselves to go and find somewhere to live,” he said.
“I don't want to come across a special pleading for members of parliament and say that things need to change to make our lives easier, because we're in a very privileged position,” he said.
“I do think, though, that something needs to change in terms of making things slightly less frantic after an election where you're trying to set up an office in Westminster."
The average cost for a flat in Westminster is £3,072, according to ONS statistics, while the average rent in England was £1,301.
According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, a public body to regulate expenses, MPs who rent in London get a budget of £22,920, whereas those renting outside the capital receive £16,010 a year.
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