UK officials spend lavishly on heating while scrapping subsidies for older taxpayers
British officials are using taxpayer funds to heat what is often their two homes while cutting back on heating subsidies for senior citizens.
All Members of Parliament must have permanent residences in London. Those who represent constituencies in other cities must also have residences in those locations.
Less heating for taxpayers, more for government officials
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachael Reeves, for example, has a home in London and one in Leeds. She used £3,700 ($4,855) in government funds over five years to heat her Leeds house alone. Reeves makes £158,851 ($208,468) a year.
Recently, Reeves made changes to the government’s winter heating subsidies program that will see 10 million senior citizens lose annual handouts worth up to £300 ($483).
“Well, being a constituency MP means that you have to have a house in London as well as, of course, living in the constituency, and that's the same for all MPs,” she said in her own defense.
“I recognise that I earn more than average families in Britain, but I'm also determined in this position to protect the most vulnerable, which is why the winter fuel payment will continue to be paid to pensioners on pension credit,” she added.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall heads the department that will enforce the new rules and deny heating payments to 10 million taxpayers. Last year, she used £2,400 ($3,150) in taxpayer funds to heat her second home, almost double from the year before.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's heating reimbursements have also doubled to £1,100 ($1,144).
Altogether, 11 cabinet ministers claimed £12,620 ($16,562) for heating in just the first three quarters of last year, up from £7,187 ($9,432) the year before.
“As MPs warm themselves at public expense, the reality for pensioners will be very different this winter,” said Simon Francis, a coordinator at the End Fuel Poverty Coalition. “If Labour MPs are so keen to save money for the Treasury, maybe they could look closer to home for savings rather than taking from pensioners.”
