A couple of months ago while popping into the Town Hall to attend a meeting about East Dulwich I came across a Harriet Harman MP surgery. It was taking over the whole ground floor of the Town Hall and special security was present. Amazing.  After asking questions at a full council meeting I was shocked to hear that Southwark Council hires the town hall to Harriet Harman for only £50 per surgery.  Weirdly I believe the invoicing for this stopped when Labour ran Southwark council.
When Harriet holds surgeries I’ve seen a minimum of two extra security guards hired by Southwark Councl for her surgeries. When Harriet is generating lots of press interest, such as when she was busted for speeding to her Suffolk home, Southwark Council hires even more security to keep photographers at bay. Even two contract security guards  must cost more that £50 each time.As MPs have significant expense accounts and allowances paid for by parliament they really shouldn’t be treated as charities and subsidised at the expense of Southwark Council tax payers. Equally hiring out the town hall shouldn’t get in the way of the council holding meetings – currently the main council Planning Committee can’t always meet when it needs to as Harriet has bagged Tuesday evenings.

Can we be sure that ALL the costs associated with the use of Southwark properties by MPs are charged at commercial rates and will be kept commercial going forward?

I’ll keep asking until I’m happy such weird subsidies are resolved sand that invoices and bills are actually being paid.