Next month the rental agreements for MPs’ constituency offices will be published, exposing just how many MPs are bunging taxpayer cash to trade unions and their local parties by claiming rent for properties they could have access to for free. Regular readers will be aware of the potential for troughing here…

It may not be for personal gain, but if the parties are taking money from the taxpayer in murky circumstances, that does not make it any better. Back in 2010 Sarah Teather’s back-door party funding was revealed in a Guy News investigation:

Unions are often major beneficiaries of rental trickery. Luciana Berger claims £1,750 per quarter for her constituency office rent, her office is the UCATT building in Liverpool. They’re donors…

Geoffery Robinson does the same for Unite:

This is a scam used by Labour MPs to, perfectly legally, funnel taxpayer cash to a donor who then gives money back to the party. Next month we will find out if the Tories are pulling an equivalent stunt; claiming taxpayers’ money to pay rent to a private donor, who then gave money back to the party, it would be a major scandal. Where there’s a rule to bend, there’s a will…