Under-fire Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox has been told to resign for reportedly renting out his tax-payer funded London apartment while also claiming expenses for a second flat in the English capital.
Torridge and West Devon MP Cox earns £1,000 a week for the mansion flat he rents out in Battersea, south London, according to The Mirror. He has claimed more than £80,000 from the taxpayer for the second home near Parliament.
But according to the report he also claims £1,900 a month from taxpayers for another home he started renting in 2017. Cox is even said to have claimed £3,800 in rent for the flat while he reportedly worked as a lawyer in a Caribbean tax haven for two months, a job for which he earns around £1 million a year. He also earns more than £80,000 a year as an MP.
The former attorney general, who is under pressure following revelations about his second job as a barrister, has not broken House of Commons rules. But he has faced calls to resign from renters union Acorn.
Acorn spokesperson Jack Yates told The Big Issue: “That Geoffrey Cox is raking it in from a taxpayer-funded flat while also claiming nearly £2,000 per month in expenses for another home is a disgrace, but it isn’t a shock.
“For far too many MPs, the role isn’t about public service, it’s about enriching yourself and your friends and using public money to do it. This also shows why the government has no interest in resolving the housing crisis – because they’re profiting from it.