MPs Expenses - Andrew George - Cornwall

Premier Travel Inn County Hall - Reasonably Priced Accommodation

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I emailed St Ives Lib Dems inviting a response on Friday - but as with previous emails to them no reply.

So - here's my response and comments on:

Andrew George - Response To Telegraph Article

First - if you're living in Cornwall why do you need a second home in London ?
I travel to London to work from time to time and like most of us who travel up from Cornwall I stay in a modest business hotel - usually Premier Travel Inn or similar. In case you hadn't noticed there is one conveniently situated just over the bridge from Westminster at County Hall.

"Fact 1: We purchased nearly 1/3 of the flat ourselves and bought half of the furniture and fittings without making a claim from taxpayers' money."

Well that's really big of you Andrew - so us taxpayers only funded just over £200,000 of your purchase.

The Telegraph article states ' .....  claiming back £1,898 spent on furnishings. They included a sofa and beds which were said to have been delivered to his main home in Cornwall.'
There is no response to this particular point on your website - simple question - is this true or not true ?

"Fact 2: My daughter was living in a student hall of residence elsewhere in London throughout the period of the claim the Telegraph refers to. Before that she lived elsewhere in London - not in my flat."
No comment from me for now.
Guido does have some comments on this.

"Fact 3: They didn't tell their readers that they sent a snooper around to my flat for the whole morning but failed to get a picture of my daughter leaving it."
Not nice being snooped on is it.
St Ives is now plastered with CCTV cameras. Are you planning to do anything about it ?

"Fact 4: I have long argued that MPs should not be able to "profit" from the allowance regime and that we should be required to sell our flats back at cost and give back furniture so that Parliament could build up a portfolio of furnished flats to rent back to MPs."
So - is that a commitment to sell back at cost and give back all the furniture ?

"Fact 5: As I own 1/3 of the flat anyway I believe that it is reasonable for me to allow any member of my family to visit or stay in the spare room at any time."
Fair enough.
As us taxpayers own the other 2/3 can we book a room as well ?

"At the time of the one piece of evidence the Telegraph built their story on - the receipt for house contents insurance - my daughter was living in student halls of residence. That information was given to the Telegraph but they chose to present a story implying that I only bought the flat for my daughter. Before she was in her hall of residence she lived elsewhere in London - not in the flat."

So exactly why was your daughter's name on the insurance policy ?

"My wife arranged the insurance for the flat. Because we have Post Office insurance on our main home in Cornwall, we were not allowed to have our name on another policy at another address." (quote from Telegraph article).
I wasn't aware that the Post Office doesn't allow you to have more than one policy - must check that out tomorrow when they open.

Look forward to hearing from you.