Labour MP who railed against housing shortage lives in council flat

A Labour MP who decried the lack of affordable homes in her constituency is living in a council flat, The Telegraph can reveal.

Apsana Begum, who earns a salary of £94,000 as the MP for Poplar and Limehouse, in east London, has spoken out about the “housing crisis across London” and rising rates of homelessness.

But The Telegraph can reveal that she continues to live in a council flat, despite admitting almost five years ago that she “probably” did not need it any more.

On Saturday, the Tories said Ms Begum’s “hypocrisy is staggering”.

Last April, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority set the basic annual salary of MPs at £93,904, up from £91,346. MPs also receive expenses to cover the costs of running an office, employing staff, renting a second home and travelling between Parliament and their constituency.

Ms Begum’s council flat is in the borough of Tower Hamlets, which stipulates that any single person or couple earning over £90,000 are not eligible to apply for council housing. However, officials said that once a council flat had been allocated, they did not continue to monitor the occupant’s salary.

Ms Begum is not breaking any rules by continuing to live in a council flat.

However, Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative Party chairman, said: “Apsana Begum’s hypocrisy is staggering. She has been speaking out about the need for more council housing while occupying a council flat herself, despite pocketing an MP’s salary worth more than three times the average wage.

“While thousands queue up for the chance to get a council home in Tower Hamlets, Begum is entrenched in a pad that even she admits she doesn’t need.

“As ever, it’s one rule for Labour and another for everyone else. Council homes should be for those who really need them.”

MP admits flat is ‘probably’ not needed

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in August 2021, Ms Begum said: “I am probably in a much better position now than I was when I first contacted the council for support.

“And so it is something that I am thinking about: is it something that I need? And it’s probably not something that I need. It’s something that I should maybe consider or think about moving on from.”

She gave the interview after she had been cleared by Snaresbrook Crown Court of housing fraud.

She had been accused of three charges of making dishonest applications for council homes to Tower Hamlets council between 2013 and 2016.

After she was found not guilty by a jury, she said that “vexatious” claims about her living arrangements had led to 18 months of sexist and racist online abuse.

Tower Hamlets Council, which brought the prosecution, said it had a “duty” to investigate the allegations.

During a debate about house building in the Commons last November, Ms Begum said: “Londoners and my constituents have been priced out, with increasing gentrification and affordable homes that are not only in shortage but all too often just not affordable.

“That is the legacy of the previous Tory Government and their previous Tory Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.”

She went on to highlight the “housing crisis across London, with rising rates of homelessness, insufficient social housing, soaring rents and associated poor-quality housing”.

Ms Begum concluded her speech by saying: “Housing is a right, and we must all have safe, affordable and secure housing. We need investment and empowerment in our communities, and to resolve the housing crisis we need a mass building programme of social and particularly council housing.”

Tower Hamlets is London’s most densely populated borough and has one of the most acute housing needs in England, according to the think tank Centre for London.

The think tank notes that the borough’s density and disparity of housing need is reflected in its waiting times for social housing. A one-bedroom property has a 2,008 day wait, the second highest in London.

‘Acute’ housing crisis

Tower Hamlets says the housing crisis is “acute” in the borough, with 19,000 people currently on the waiting list.

It notes that renting property in the private sector is “beyond the reach of families on low income, around three times as much as rents for similar council (or housing association) homes and often cannot be covered by the local Housing Benefit allowance”.

The borough says that there is a “large demand” for social housing in the borough and cautions that “most people who join the housing register will never be offered a social housing tenancy”.

Ms Begum, who is on the Left of the party, was elected in 2019. She was suspended from Labour in 2024 for voting against the Government in support of ending the two-child benefit cap. She was re-admitted to the party last September.

A Tower Hamlets Council spokesman said: “Our Allocations Scheme restricts applicants with a sole or joint income of £90,000 or more from joining the Housing Register. Once a person is housed through the Register it is not our policy to review their salary.”

Dr Charlotte Proudman, barrister and founder of Proudmans Law Firm, said: “Apsana Begum MP was acquitted after a vexatious trial in 2021 with the matter being closed and no wrongdoing on her part.

“We consider this harassment of her to be an abuse of power which highlights the unjust treatment she continues to have to endure as a survivor of ongoing domestic abuse and the first hijab-wearing MP.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]