Hunters founder-turned MP Kevin Hollinrake has accused Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham of hypocrisy after it emerged he rents out a London flat originally purchased while serving as an MP.
The former council flat in Kennington, south London, was bought by Burnham in 2005 and is now estimated to be worth around £480,000. Reports claim the purchase was partly funded through parliamentary expenses available to MPs at the time.
Burnham has previously criticised the growing divide between homeowners benefiting from rising property values and those struggling to get onto the housing ladder.
However, Kevin Hollinrake, currently chairman of the Conservative party, said Burnham’s ownership and rental of the property undermined those arguments, accusing him of benefiting from the same housing market trends he has publicly criticised.
Hollinrake told the press: “The self-styled King of the North, it turns out, has kept a rather comfortable foothold south of the river.
“Bought thanks to expenses, doubled in value, rented out for profit – despite cries of unfairness against the landlord class he is a part of.
“There is a certain whiff of hypocrisy.”
The parliamentary expenses system was overhauled following the 2009 expenses scandal, with MPs no longer allowed to claim mortgage costs on second homes using taxpayer funds. Instead, MPs were permitted to claim rental costs for accommodation in London.
Burnham retained ownership of his London flat and rented it out, while reportedly claiming around £17,000 a year in expenses to rent another nearby property for himself.
The arrangement attracted criticism when it first emerged in 2012 during Burnham’s time as shadow health secretary under then Labour leader Ed Miliband.
“That creates divides in society, doesn’t it? The haves and the have nots.”
He has also called for “lower rents” and even backed a rent freeze in a letter to then Housing Secretary Michael Gove in 2023.
The Greater Manchester Mayor has also called for the suspension of the Right to Buy scheme, which lets people buy their council homes at discounted prices, despite the fact that his property was once sold under the Right to Buy initiative.
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Comments (1)
To some extent the last paragraph is the most interesting. He is not the only Labour politician to benefit from the substantial discounts given to council tenants by Margaret Thatcher’s Right to Buy policy. I understand that the former deputy PM AR and and her partner both bought homes under this scheme, and they all think this should be stopped for other council tenants.