Reform’s Suella Braverman claims massive taxpayer-funded water bill
Braverman, a proponent of cutting welfare spending, has claimed £45,000 in utility bills
Reform MP Suella Braverman has come under fire after records revealed that she claimed thousands of pounds in taxpayer money to pay for her family’s water bills.
Over a five-month period between June and November 2024, Braverman’s family used a staggering 1,504 litres of water daily at her £1.2 million four-bedroom pad.
As reported by The Mirror, Braverman, who has frequently criticised “something for nothing” culture, claimed £657.36 to pay her water bills in the five-month period in 2024.
The water supplier said Braverman’s family’s water usage was enough to “fill more than 18 bathtubs and 368.54% more water than the average similar-sized household”.
Not only that, but according to information provided in response to a Freedom of Information Request by campaign group Led by Donkeys, Braverman claimed an eye-watering £45,000 in expenses to pay for utility bills between 2017 and 2025.
It is also enough water to refill a large residential swimming pool every month but satellite images of the Hertfordshire property show no sign of a pool.
Braverman was able to claim for her utility bills because she did not claim rent for her constituency property, which was her parents’ property in Fareham.
The maximum amount an MP could claim in accommodation costs for their own home in 2024-25 was £6,630.
However, in that year Braverman was able to claim £7,316 by stating that the property doubled-up as her home office.
MPs can claim for home office costs “additional to those which are part of the normal cost of living in the home”.
Braverman allocated 20% of her water and other utility bills to her home office use.
This means that in the summer of 2024, she was claiming office expenses for enough water to fill a thousand cups of tea a day.
In 2023/24, Mrs Braverman claimed a total of £4,565.10 in utility bills – the fourth highest such claim by an MP and nearly three times the average. The year she claimed £4,538.76, the third highest.
Braverman’s hefty expense claims are at odds with her vocal criticism of people who claim benefits.
In an article in the Telegraph earlier this month, Braverman said her family were “too proud” to claim benefits.
While running for the Conservative Party leadership in summer 2022, Braverman stated that “too many people in this country are choosing to rely on benefits, on taxpayers’ money, on your money, my money, to get by.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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