After criticising Rishi Sunak’s wife for buying her husband an expensive mug, Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Rayner listed “Apple AirPods” amongst other tech devices on her expenses.
Ms Angela Rayner has listed Apple AirPods on her expenses bill, alongside other Apple products and an office chair.
The total cost to the taxpayer is £2,367 for the Apple devices and the office chair. Rayner also has a large bill for office and stationery spending, amounting to £3,809.25.
Rayner targetted Rishi Sunak’s wife for buying him an expensive mug in this tweet:
https://twitter.com/angelarayner/status/1280627481259773952?lang=en-gb
Rayner now faces a large amount of criticism for her spending. This is not uncommon for Rayner, who had previously been criticised for listing travel expenses (travel by train) amounting to £1,600. It is recorded that Rayner has claimed £30,952.98 since last March.
While Rayner is under fire, she is not the only MP to have spent taxpayers’ money on luxury items. Labour MP Barry Gardiner purchased an iPad pen worth £131 and listed it on his expenses.
The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) states that MPs are allowed to make claims as long as they “relate to parliamentary activity”.
MPs’ expenses have been quite scandalous in the past, with MPs spending large sums of money for personal reward. One MP had purchased a packet of Custard Creams with taxpayers’ money. Other claims were far more expensive and in some cases far more inappropriate.
Rayner, who brands herself as a working-class advocate, does not seem to mind spending the money of hard-working people. Yet she is not the only high-spending MP in Parliament – MPs’ expenses totalled £9.1 million in 2020, despite most of them working from home during the first lockdown.
As the attention builds on Rayner for her questionable expenses, Health Secretary Matt Hancock can only hope to hide under the noise with his own AirPods, which he too has reportedly listed as an expense.
With Parliament now a lot quieter after the Brexit debacles, one can see how noise-cancelling Bluetooth AirPods may be a future investment for ‘parliamentary activity’.
