MP’s Scrounging Is Out Of Control: Cap Esther McVey’s Housing Benefit

MPs are being handed huge subsidies to rent second homes in London whilst thousands of the capital’s poorest residents are being socially cleansed due to slashed benefits and soaring rents.

Unemployment Minister Esther McVey claimed a whopping £17,227 last year to rent a swanky central London pad whilst invisible Housing Minster Kris Hopkins trousered £18,045.

The total bill for MPs languishing in luxury properties at our expense came to over £5 million says pressure group Generation Rent who compiled the figures.

The maximum Housing Benefit available in London is just over £250 a week for a single person, around £100 a week less than McVey scrounges.  This benefit goes to people in and out of work alike and was capped shortly after the current government weren’t elected.  Soaring rents in London have meant that many new housing benefit claimants are working full time but still cannot afford the eye-watering cost of living in the capital.

Previously ministers, including Iain Duncan Smith, have claimed that there are plenty of properties still available in London to those affected by the cap.  So why can’t McVey live in one of those instead of living on hand outs?

McVey earns far too much already to be eligible for housing benefit and in any case it is not payable for second homes, even if you claim you need them for work.  She can easily afford to pay her own rent and if not then any state support she receives should be capped at the same level she expects everyone else to survive on.  It’s about making the system fair after all, and it might even incentivise McVey to get a real job for once in her miserable life.

Above graphic produced by Generation Rent, do visit their website