Paul Maynard, MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys, guilty of expenses breaches

The MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys has been found to have breached expenses rules after a whistleblower prompted an official investigation.

Paul Maynard, who is also the Pensions Minister and a former Government whip, broke rules which expressly forbid MPs from using taxpayer money for party political purposes. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) is responsible for administering MPs expenses and launched an investigation after complaints were made by Milly Skriczka, a member of the local party association.

It had now ruled that Maynard breached rules by using his constituency office for party politics on dozens of occasions since 2014. It also found he used a printer - leased at a cost to the taxpayer of up to £1,677 per year - to be used for overtly political materials.

However, when ruling what he must repay, the watchdog said it was unable to determine how much of the £106,000 costs - four times the average amount for MPs - he’d claimed was for unacceptable usage. Ruling the high printing costs did not represent a breach of the Scheme of MPs Business Costs and Expenses, it noted “comprehensive audit of all the MP’s printing and associated claims over this period was not undertaken due to resource constraints".

Ipsa found that Maynard had breached the scheme both through the improper use of the printer and by allowing the constituency office to be used for party political usage. According to Skrizka’s witness statement, the office at Blackpool Technology Management Centre was regularly used for party meetings and that, although Bispham Conservative Club was listed the address of campaign leaflets, it had not been used for many years.

She said she had witnessed political work done by Maynard’s chief of staff in the office and that it had been used as a meeting point for party members to collect political literature to be delivered to homes after being printed there.

Although a system to enable ad-hoc payments was set up after concerns were first raised, Maynard was found to have underreported the number of times this happened. Ipsa has now recommended the rules governing MPs are officially changed to prevent such instances.

In its report, it said: “Mr Maynard is amongst a small minority of MPs who allow the use of their constituency office for non-parliamentary activity on a repayment basis. Although allowed by the Scheme, this arrangement demands a high level of organisation on the part of the MP and their staff, is inherently complicated and open to misunderstanding.”

Ipsa concluded it would be appropriate for the MP to pay back 10% of the printer costs going back to 2017, totalling a little over £1,300. This amount was repaid on May 2 and as a result, the investigation was closed. 

In its recommendations, it wrote: “The root cause of this complaint is the use by the MP of his Ipsa funded constituency office for party-political activity. Although allowed by the Scheme and despite the MP putting an ad-hoc agreement in place with the Ipsa for this purpose, it has clearly been a difficult arrangement for the MP and his staff to manage. 

“A clear separation of physical space, assets and resources for party-political activity is preferable and would significantly reduce the risk of these types of compliance issues occurring in the future. The CEO of Ipsa is invited to consider a policy amendment that prohibits the dual use of MPs’ constituency offices.”

However, there is potential that Maynard could face further investigation. Ipsa’s report states: “In her statement Ms Skriczka makes further allegations regarding the handling of personal data and claims for postage which did not appear in the two Sunday Times Newspaper articles, and which have not been included in the scope of this investigation. The former allegation will be referred to the Ipsa, the latter will be assessed separately by the Compliance Officer.”

According to Ipsa, the MP has been the subject of previous complaints in May 2018 and July 2023 and in both cases no breach of the scheme was found.

Welcoming the report’s publication, Maynard said it made” no direct criticism of me or of my office”. He said: “I have implemented his recommendations and already reimbursed Ipsa the sum recommended. I also agree with Ipsa that despite our best intentions, navigating the dual use of a constituency office can, at times, be inherently complicated. I have now ceased this arrangement."

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