Chancellor Rachel Reeves has come under fire after it emerged she charged taxpayers thousands of dollars for her own energy bills, before announcing the decision to cut pensioners’ winter fuel allowance.
In the last five years alone, Ms Reeves has claimed £3,700 in energy bills, on top of her £91,346 salary and other housing expenses.
This amount is 2.5 times greater than the amount a retiree could have received in winter fuel over the same period.
Considering her entire spending history, that figure rises to £4,400, with new demands for her to repay the money.
Analysis by Telegraphpublished today, further reveals that over the same half-decade period, Labour MPs claimed more than £425,000 from the taxpayer to heat their second homes.
Some of these expenses are thousands of dollars more per year than a typical family’s spending.
The article suggests that £425,000 is a staggering £83,000 more than the average amount spent on heating by a similar number of households in the same period.
MPs are entitled to claim accommodation costs as expenses, as long as they are renting the home and do not own it.
The total limit for housing costs is £29,290 in London, and £19,940, which should cover rent and heating costs.
This afternoon, Labour MPs voted overwhelmingly to back plans to strip pensioners earning just £11,343 of their £300 annual winter fuel allowance, while they can still claim thousands more to help themselves.
Liz Kendall, who led today’s fierce Commons debate on government policy, claimed an even higher sum than the Chancellor has earned over the past five years, £5,700.
That would be enough to pay for 19 pensioners’ Winter Fuel this Christmas.
Senior Labour MP Liam Byrne also takes the crown for the highest energy expenditure of any MP over the past five years, with a staggering £18,400.
Mr. Byrne said to the Telegraph This was because the energy supplier “charged too much and is now in the process of withdrawing the very large credit balance we have with them.”
Meanwhile, Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi has billed taxpayers for £11,800 over the period, and Naz Shah has claimed £10,300.
These figures are even more surprising considering that MPs typically live in two properties, one in London and a second in their constituency, and so the amount spent on their energy bill does not represent full-time usage.
The revelations were met with fury on social media this afternoon, with writer and columnist Gareth Roberts asking: “How did they not realise someone would notice this?”
User X BreakTheSilence fumed: “She made sure to take care of herself first, didn’t she?”
While Christian Cawley blasted: “Make them all pay back.”
Simon Francis, from the charity End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “As MPs warm up at the public’s expense, the reality for pensioners will be very different this winter.
“If Labour MPs are so keen to save money for the Treasury, perhaps they could look for savings closer to home rather than taking from needy pensioners?”
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers are tired of being lectured by politicians who fail to practice what they preach.
“Failed policies have driven up energy prices to levels that families are struggling to afford, but lawmakers are insulated from rising costs. Our representatives must keep their constituents in mind when deciding policy.”