Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis has defended his expenses after it was revealed he claimed more than £30,000 for hotel accommodation in London in two years.
According to figures from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), Mr Lewis, who was appointed housing minister last year, has claimed £30,750 in hotel expenses since 2013.
He currently owns three houses, two of them less than an hour by train from Westminster.
Mr Lewis, who has not broken any rules, said: 'Every expense claim is entirely in accordance with the rules and approved by Ipsa.'
As reported in the Sunday Times, Mr Lewis claimed for overnight stays on 99 occasions last year at a rate of £150 a night and 106 times the previous year.
He owns three houses — one in Great Yarmouth, one near Chelmsford in Essex and one in nearby Shenfield. Between them, they are worth at least £3.5m.
Under rules introduced after the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal, MPs are expected to claim only for costs necessary for them to carry out their public duties.
MPs in 96 constituencies in and around London — including Brentford and Ongar in which Lewis's Shenfield house is located — are not entitled to claim expenses for overnight stays in the capital because they are deemed to live close enough to the House of Commons to commute.
His properties in Great Yarmouth and Chelmsford are not in seats where MPs are barred from making such claims.
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