MPs and Tory minister asked to repay driving fines claimed on expenses
Government watchdog says any future claims will not be paid out
Several MPs from the Conservative Party and the Scottish National Party (SNP), alongside a current Tory party minister, have been asked to repay hundreds of pounds in driving fines previously claimed on their expenses.
An investigation by the Independent revealed that Amanda Solloway, a current Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, claimed an £80 fixed penalty notice issued to her by Transport for London in 2020, listing it under “MP travel expenses”.
Conservative MPs Simon Hoare and Bim Afolami, along with SNP MP Dave Doogan, were also found to have claimed for similar charges dating as far back as 2019.
According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s (Ipsa) expenses register, Mr Hoare, MP for North Dorset and chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, claimed four times for an £80 fine in November 2019.
Mr Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, claimed for two £80 fines in December of 2021, while Mr Doogan, SNP MP for Angus, claimed for a £160 fine in January 2022.
Ipsa’s guidelines state that it “will not pay any claims for penalty charges or additional charges”.
The group, which is also responsible for setting MP’s pay rates, approved and paid the charges as they were claimed, though it later said it had been wrong to do so.
A spokesperson for the organisation said: “Ipsa’s checks failed in some cases to identify these claims and some of them were paid. We will contact MPs and ask them to repay, where appropriate.”
“We have changed our process to ensure any future such claims are not paid, and will reiterate the scheme rules to MPs.”
Sunak rejected Braverman investigation
The revelations come just days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected calls to launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s speeding fine, after she allegedly asked civil servants to help her avoid penalty points and a fine, and instead organise a private speed awareness course for her.
“While Rishi Sunak’s MPs break the rules and try and make the taxpayer pick up the bill, working people are left struggling to cope with the soaring Tory cost of living crisis,” said Labour’s shadow Commons leader, Thangam Debbonaire.
“Support arrangements exist for MPs so we’re able to represent our communities in Parliament. Tory MPs flouting the rules damages public confidence in the system. Rishi Sunak must clamp down on the rulebreakers in his party and get on with delivering for the British people.”
Mr Afolami and Ms Solloway have both claimed that their expense submissions were made in error, and that both of them had repaid the charges claimed in full since they were brought to the public’s attention.
Mr Afolami said that his expenses claim was “completely inadvertent”, telling the PA news agency: “All money repaid the moment that I knew about it.”
Alastair Graham, a former Chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, told the Independent that the revelations were “scandalous”, adding that “if the Home Secretary can pay her fine for speeding, then everybody else should pay their fixed penalty notices.”
“MPs are ordinary citizens like the rest of us, and if they’ve breached the regulations for driving then they have to pay the fixed penalty notice like the rest of us.”
He added: “It gives a very bad impression if they’re paid out of public funds, because it looks like they’re getting special privileges, which is most inappropriate.”
Graham also added that the Ipsa had done a “decent job” in running and monitoring MP’s expenses since its establishment in 2009, but said that the recent revelations showed that there were “clearly weaknesses in their system that they’re not carefully checking”.
Related articles
- After reading about MPs repaying fines claimed on expenses, you may want to read how the public wants 60mph motorway speed limits – according to a WWF survey
- And check out how motorists are being fined millions of pounds for inadvertently entering low-traffic neighbourhoods
- And did you know the penalty for speeding in 20mph roads is a postcode lottery?
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