News from Cornwall Labour

Lib Dem MP Julia Goldsworthy still has “unanswered questions” over expenses

Jude Robinson, Labour PPC for Camborne and Redruth, has put local MP Julia Goldsworthy on the spot saying “unanswered questions” remain about her parliamentary expenses.

In May 2009 Julia Goldsworthy said: “I still believe there is a need for total transparency in MPs’ expenses”. However, despite a clear statement on her parliamentary website that “All claims for the London property relate to mortgage interest costs only“, claims for council tax and utility bills have also been submitted for the flat she shares with her boyfriend.

Information about renting out her original London flat, bought in 2006 and with a history of mortgage interest costs met by allowances, has been omitted completely from the MP’s website, although it is included in the MPs register of interests as ‘Flat in London from which I receive rental income‘. [pdf]

In April this year, Julia Goldsworthy claimed for the £2,000 a month mortgage costs on her second London flat – ensuring her expenses reached the annual maximum of £23,083.

New guidelines from the House of Commons have now reduced the mortgage amount payable to £1,250 per month. Julia’s claims for May and June 2009 include the allowed maximum of £1,250 per month but with additional claims for council tax and utility bills. This is within the rules for the new allowance but at odds with the statement on her website.

Jude Robinson, who will be challenging Julia Goldsworthy at the next election said:

“The spotlight may have gone off MPs’ expenses but we still need openness and honesty and the information on Julia’s website leaves more unanswered questions.

“Julia Goldsworthy now has two flats in London, which were funded by taxpayers. The first, which she furnished in the well publicised ’shopping spree’ days before the expenses deadline in 2006, is now rented out. This is not declared on her website and there is no information whether this is a profitable arrangement.

“Currently Julia shares a flat with her boyfriend Chris, who is assumed to work in London and has sold his home in Reading. Although it is within the rules for MPs to claim for homes they share with partners, constituents struggling to buy or rent their own homes wonder why Chris’s main home is subsidised by taxpayers.

“Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said his MPs will not profit from property bought on expenses, but it is very unclear where Julia stands on this. Having admitted the need for ‘total transparency’ on expenses, Julia has fallen short on her own.”

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• Labour reveals cost of NHS reorganisation in Devon and Cornwall - 17 April 2012