Suella Bravermen did not use parliamentary expenses to pay her parents’ energy bills

A series of posts on Facebook have revived a claim that home secretary Suella Braverman used expenses to pay the energy bills on her parents’ home. 

One version of the claim, which also appears on X (formerly Twitter) says: “Suella Braverman used £25k of expenses to pay her parents Energy Bills for 5 years when she occasionally stayed there rent free. Then she steals homeless people's tents." 

Full Fact has previously written about the claim Ms Braverman paid her parents’ energy bills on expenses. We found it appeared to originate from an article published in the Mirror newspaper on 2 April 2023, which reported that Ms Braverman had claimed around £25,000 in expenses over the previous five years to cover energy and other costs for her homes in and around London, while staying rent-free at her parents’ house when she visits her constituency in Fareham, Hampshire.

However, unlike the Facebook posts, the Mirror article makes it clear that the money being claimed was for utility bills at Ms Braverman’s own homes, not the home of her parents. Such expenses claims are fully allowed under current parliamentary rules. 

According to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), the independent body responsible for MPs’ expenses, such payments are available to all MPs who represent constituencies outside London to prevent them from being “out of pocket” because they have to run two homes—one in their constituency and another in London to provide easy access to the Houses of Parliament. 

Misleading claims about politicians or political parties have the potential to affect people’s opinions of individuals and parties and how they choose to vote.

Comments on homelessness

Some of the social media posts further claim that Ms Braverman “steals homeless people's tents”. This is a reference to her recent comments on restricting the use of tents by the homeless, claiming that many of those sleeping rough had made a “lifestyle choice” to do so. 

Her suggestions, which faced criticism from some charities, were initially expected to be put forward as part of the King’s Speech on 7 November, but ultimately did not appear among the 21 bills set out in the legislative programme. The BBC has reported that her ideas are still “undergoing scrutiny”.