The Government should scrap MPs’ second home allowances and take rooms in a budget hotel, suggests one property enterpreneur.
Aaron Turner, founder of www.look4aproperty.com and business partner of ‘Dragon’ James Caan, says that the Government should use a hotel near the Houses of Parliament instead of paying for second homes.
Mr Turner suggests that the Westminster Bridge Hotel, being built on the roundabout by Waterloo Station, would be an appropriate place for MPs to stay while in the capital.
‘The cost of buying up every single room to be used by MPs would still come to less than the £128m being spent on living expenses at the moment.’
‘Under the current system, MPs profit by selling second homes paid for by the taxpayer once they are out of a job,’ says Mr Turner. ‘But with a state-run hotel, any assets or profits would go back to the British taxpayer, not to individuals.’
The team behind look4property.com have calculated that the cost of putting up all 650 MPs at the Westminster Bridge Hotel for four nights a week for 25 weeks a year – the typical time MPs spend in London (at £100 per night), would cost the taxpayer £6.5 million per annum.
Alternatively, some rooms are being sold next year through Galliard Homes with guide prices from £200,000, so if you bought a room for every single MP, it would cost around £130m – and the rooms would belong to the ‘taxpayer’ for 999 years.
