Hove MP Barlow regrets claiming for luxury bathroom fittings (From The Argus)
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Hove MP Barlow regrets claiming for luxury bathroom fittings
10:00pm Thursday 28th May 2009 in News By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter
An MP who claimed thousands of pounds for her bathrooms said she wished she had never bought its luxury fittings.
Celia Barlow is the latest MP to be caught up in the expenses row after it was revealed that she used taxpayers’ cash to pay for extensive renovations at her home in Tongdean Road, Hove.
Two fitted bathrooms, a “high lustre silver shower screen” and a whirlpool bath, a new porch door and removal costs were all listed in the Hove MP’s expenses list, worth more than £28,000.
Yesterday she told The Argus that the work was claimed as part of her parliamentary duties for a “basic standard of living” but said she regretted buying a high-end shower screen and offered to apologise to any upset constituents.
Ms Barlow has previously been outspoken about not claiming a second home allowance for the past two years and commuting to Westminster.
The figures, made public yesterday, show that in 2005 and 2006 the MP claimed for her constituency house and a flat she lived in prior to buying the £555,000 house.
Ms Barlow refused to allow The Argus into the house her constituents paid to renovate yesterday on “security and privacy” grounds.
Speaking in her Hove office yesterday, the Labour MP explained that she made the claims under the Additional Costs Allowances scheme after being made an MP, and moving from Chichester to Hove.
She said: “I thought I was possibly making it a home for my family, but at the same time I had a family home in Chichester and I kept that because my son went to school there and my mother lives round the corner.
“It was a second home allowance and it was my second home. I claimed that as part of my parliamentary duties for a basic standard of living, having been fortunate enough to have been elected as MP for Hove.
“I wish I hadn’t bought the silver lustre shower screen.
“I seriously wish I hadn’t bought that. But it isn’t a moat.
“It’s a shower screen I wish I hadn’t bought but I did need something to stop the water coming out.”
She added: “People are welcome to come and look at my expenses and if they are unhappy with what I have done then they should tell me.
“But people should bear in mind I have decided not to claim anything at all for two years.
“I expect some people will be unhappy, and then I am very sorry about what has happened.
“My constituents will have to tell me what they think. If they consider I should have bought a shower curtain instead, then I think that’s acceptable.
“But at the same time they have to think about the fact that I didn’t want to claim anything any more very early on.”
In January 2006, she claimed £29,399 for stamp duty and mortgage broker and legal fees and removal costs, and was paid £13,881.
In July 2006 she claimed £1,060 for gardening, to install a porch door and to remove a shed but £520 of the claim was rejected.
In August 2006, she claimed £5,183 on second home allowance for bathroom goods from Bathstore, including the “high lustre silver” bath screen, a lavatory, basin and shower valve. She as paid £4,935.
In October 2006, she was paid another £3,570 for more bathroom goods and electrical services including a £458 whirlpool bath.
Ms Barlow, who has in the past voted in favour of all MPs’ expenses being made public, said she thinks the fees need reform. She said she stopped claiming once her Hove house became her permanent home in early 2007 and stressed that she had never “flipped” homes.
She said: “The fees office said I could claim it for a London property or Chichester, but I didn’t because I didn’t think it was appropriate. It is very hard to say you want full disclosure and transparency, then get upset when people want to look at yours. This makes people distrust politicians an awful lot.
“That’s why the system should have been reformed 20 years ago.”
Comments(32)
Coffee Bucks
says...
11:21pm Thu 28 May 09
she regrets being caught.
Hove person
says...
11:32pm Thu 28 May 09
Lil
says...
8:02am Fri 29 May 09
I'm just going to file an expenses claim for an ivory toiley seat (I need a new one...)
...OK just got back from Finance and they've literally smacked me the face and told me to f' off.
See Celia, that's what happens in the REAL world. Not some quasi-fantastical-We
stminster realm.
Anyway, all this claiming for stuff has left her right in the sh!t.
What appalls me even more than the fact this money was claimed on expenses for wholly required to the job work (mind you, some say they're pi55ing our country down the drain...) -- but the fact that they thought this was OK to claim on!
No one held a shotgun to anybody's head over this, "If you don't claim for a dunk island punk the fees office will send its boys 'round to ruff you up you little shi..."
If you're not paid enough, or feel you're worth more -- do what we all do when we want a better salary. Go job hunting, don't defraud your employer -- US.
Now flush that memory away easily!
salty_pete
says...
8:29am Fri 29 May 09
bravebeth
says...
8:38am Fri 29 May 09
It started with Tony Blair - and his wife, how do you think they have mangaed to build up a portfolio of property worth millions - all at our expense.
Osama bin there
says...
9:19am Fri 29 May 09
salty_pete wrote:It was Margaret Thatcher who first loosened the rules on what could be claimed as MPs expenses.
This expenses scandal has the hand of Gordon Brown all over it. Soon after coming into power Nu-Labor considered it politically deadly for the MPs to vote themselves a big rise. So there was a tacit agreement for MPs to max out the allowences and expenses in lieu of a pay rise, to keep his backbenchers sweet. To do this GB needed his man The Speaker, Michael Martin, to change the staff in the fees office and get the new lot to do his bidding. Again Gordon Brown has shown his complete lack of judgement. Who do you think prevailed on the Speaker to try allmeans to prevent this being scrutinised under the FoI ? To a small extent I feel sorry for some of the MPs who were swept up in this political skuldugery ... but not too much.
Successive governments of all political persuasions just carried on the process.
You can hardly blame Gordon Brown or new labour for all of this, especially when the evidence is that the tories have taken the mick with their expenses more than the other parties.
It's everyone's fault - pure and simple.
Jim BB
says...
9:19am Fri 29 May 09
bravebeth wrote:Now, this could be libellous as you can't prove it - because all of Blair's expenses were destroyed. By accident.
Why are the schools in Hove not suitable for her family?
It started with Tony Blair - and his wife, how do you think they have mangaed to build up a portfolio of property worth millions - all at our expense.
Hang on, the tax office demands that we keep all of our paperwork for six years or we could get fine...
Osama bin there
says...
9:21am Fri 29 May 09
No. Celia Barlow regrets GETTING CAUGHT using taxpayers money to fund a luxury bathroom.
Jackie26
says...
9:24am Fri 29 May 09
bravebeth wrote:Because she lived and worked in Chichester prior to 2005?
Why are the schools in Hove not suitable for her family?
It started with Tony Blair - and his wife, how do you think they have mangaed to build up a portfolio of property worth millions - all at our expense.
Even a quick Wikipedia would tell you that.
Arriseme
says...
9:37am Fri 29 May 09
Man With No Name
says...
9:50am Fri 29 May 09
f****** greedy ***** like all the others, she should be stoned
Masterchav
says...
9:58am Fri 29 May 09
Barlow makes a big thing about how she didn't claim 2nd homes allowance last year... but she did the 2 years previously.
Check out the full extent of her expenses at www.parliament.uk and search for "MP allowances".
Goodbye Barlow!!
At least when we get rid of her her stupid campaign to ban lap dancing bars will come to an end...
Mary Hinge
says...
10:44am Fri 29 May 09
"The MP for Hove has been feted for making no claims on her second home allowance in the past two years.
However, in 2006-07 she ranked joint first on the list of highest claimants."
"In January 2006, Miss Barlow told the fees office she was nominating her new £555,000 house in Hove as her second home, with the intention that it would soon become her main house.
This allowed the MP to claim legal fees, stamp duty and her mortgage broker’s charges.
She also submitted a £2,890 bill for removal costs in the same form at the beginning of 2006. In all, she claimed £29,399 and was paid £13,881 by the fees office."
Check out the whole thing in gory (and it is gory) detail:
http://www.telegraph
.co.uk/news/newstopi
cs/mps-expenses/5398
361/Celia-Barlow-cla
imed-28000-before-sw
itching-home.html
jyan
says...
11:03am Fri 29 May 09
Hugh Rinall
says...
11:14am Fri 29 May 09
Cooldude
says...
11:17am Fri 29 May 09
Expenses claims far in excess of many taxpayers' annual incomes. There is one set of rules for those governing us, another set of rules for us, the governed.
No wonder they are so hopelessly out of touch with reality.
It is ironic, that the only politician who stated his intentions of reversing Mrs. Thatcher's policies is David Cameron. The leader of the Conservative Party.
(Security word, very-true.)
kkj
says...
12:22pm Fri 29 May 09
Cooldude
says...
1:20pm Fri 29 May 09
kkj wrote:If you were paid in dollars, then from your bosses point of view, it probably does count as overseas expenses.
While I'm not condoning the purchase of whirlpool baths or duck islands at the taxpayers expense, stones and glass houses spring to mind. I was once paid $85 per day in overseas expenses whilst working in Lancing and commuting daily from Brighton. Yes its morally wrong, but any previous commenters who have not, or would not, done/do exactly the same if they could get away with it, please step forward and I'll personally polish your halo.
U.S. Dollars or Zimbabwean Dollars? If the latter then it's not excessive at all.
Osama bin there
says...
1:22pm Fri 29 May 09
kkj wrote:But you aren't a politician, as far as I know, and I bet the money you were paid was not taxpayers money.
While I'm not condoning the purchase of whirlpool baths or duck islands at the taxpayers expense, stones and glass houses spring to mind. I was once paid $85 per day in overseas expenses whilst working in Lancing and commuting daily from Brighton. Yes its morally wrong, but any previous commenters who have not, or would not, done/do exactly the same if they could get away with it, please step forward and I'll personally polish your halo.
If it was, then you are no better than all the benefit scroungers that we read about on a daily basis.
mackeson
says...
1:41pm Fri 29 May 09
NOT
20 years ago, there wasn't this snout-in-the-trough attitude of the politicians. And the speaker ruled the politicians so they wouldn't have dared to do what this lot are doing
Mary Hinge
says...
1:50pm Fri 29 May 09
King from Hove
says...
2:15pm Fri 29 May 09
stan bailey
says...
2:45pm Fri 29 May 09
Mary Hinge wrote:Thatcher paid for own new kitchen in Downing St. Celia needs to resign, she is hardly a socialist with the way she has been behaving
All the expenses rules were changed by the Speaker back in 2004, so you can't blame Thatcher for this for once!
jyan
says...
4:41pm Fri 29 May 09
Chatter
says...
5:49pm Fri 29 May 09
yorkie44
says...
6:18pm Fri 29 May 09
joshingimnot
says...
7:42pm Fri 29 May 09
Osama bin there
says...
8:12am Sat 30 May 09
Mary Hinge wrote:Yes, they were changed again in 2004, but Thatcher loosened the rules during her time in office, and successive governments followed suit.
All the expenses rules were changed by the Speaker back in 2004, so you can't blame Thatcher for this for once!
As with most of the current problems wih this country, they can be traced back to her if you have the knowledge of recent political history.
King from Hove
says...
9:24am Sat 30 May 09
Masterchav
says...
9:25am Sat 30 May 09
Osama bin there wrote:That has GOT to be the most tenuous attempt to try and blame the expenses row and "most of the current problems with this country" on Thatcher!
Mary Hinge wrote: All the expenses rules were changed by the Speaker back in 2004, so you can't blame Thatcher for this for once!Yes, they were changed again in 2004, but Thatcher loosened the rules during her time in office, and successive governments followed suit. As with most of the current problems wih this country, they can be traced back to her if you have the knowledge of recent political history.
I'd have thought "recent political history" would pin most of the blame on Blair and Brown and their "smoke and mirrors" government (e.g. "no more boom and bust" (er, yeah)... "living on a the edge of a golden age of prosperity" (c) G Brown 2007... "I will not let the housing market get out of control" (c) G Brown 2004.... etc. etc.
CivicMan
says...
12:57pm Thu 18 Jun 09
TheInsider says...
10:11pm Thu 28 May 09
I so wish my employer would pay for my new bathroom. I need it to ensure I turn up to work clean....I will even go for the cheaper shower screen and the value line toilet roll holder.
You very silly woman. You need to go.