MP Shailesh Vara accused a national newspaper of lacing a story with “much innuendo and no substance” over a house in London he once owned. The NW Cambridgeshire MP was one of four MPs singled out by the Daily Mirror who, the paper claimed, had refused to say if they had paid capital gains tax on second homes.
The Mirror stated that Mr Vara made £1.6m profit after selling a town house for £2.8m.
But, since Mr Vara broke no Parliamentary rules, he declined to speak to the Mirror reporters.
“We contacted Mr Vara four times but got no answer,” the paper reported.
Mr Vara waited for the article to appear and has now spoken to CambsNews to rubbish their claims, which he believes is point scoring after the Conservative Party queried the tax implications for Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner and the £48,000 profit she made on the sale of a former council house.
“The article in the Daily Mirror is a non-story with much innuendo and no substance,” he said.
“I have always acted properly and on the advice of my accountant, as is the case with many MPs from various political parties.”
Mr Vara added: “I would add that I haven’t claimed a second home allowance since 2009, saving the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds. To have mentioned this, would of course have ruined this story.
“Having saved the taxpayer a considerable sum of money it is disappointing to see such an article which seeks to score a cheap political point.”
Picture by Terry Harris.
Mr Vara – who has been MP for NW Cambridgeshire since 2005 – estimates he has saved taxpayers around £400,000 by not claiming a second home allowance since 2009.
Since 2010 MPs have not been able to claim for mortgage repayments on a house or flat they own in London. This change was intended to stop them making profits on homes at the taxpayer’s expense.
FACT FILE
Shailesh Vara’s Government posts include being Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022.
He has formerly served as a Minister for Northern Ireland, a Minister for Justice, a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions and as a Government Whip.
In Opposition, Shailesh was Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and before being appointed to the Front Bench, he was on the Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
