Senedd Members ‘should not be able to claim for hotel stays in their own constituency’

Martin Shipton

An internet platform that conducts daily referendums on political issues has found that an overwhelming majority of members who voted do not believe elected parliamentarians should claim hotel expenses in their own constituencies.

Refnation.uk decided to organise the vote following Nation.Cymru’s recent revelation that Reform UK MS Cai Parry-Jones, who represents Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf but was living on Anglesey, spent £569 on a hotel stay in Cardiff.

Since being elected to the Senedd in May, Mr Parry-Jones has presented himself as a crusader against wasteful government spending.

He was elected as Reform’s lead candidate in the Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf constituency. He has no ostensible connection with Cardiff but was allocated the candidacy by Nigel Farage despite living on Anglesey. As in all constituencies across Wales, local party members had no say in his selection.

Following his election, Mr Parry-Jones was appointed to Reform UK’s shadow cabinet in the Senedd as Shadow Cabinet Minister for Finance and Government Efficiency.

In the months since his election, he has called for an end to all Welsh Government international spending, criticised spending on laptops for MSs and questioned items paid for on the Welsh Government’s credit card account.

Nation.Cymru emailed Mr Parry-Jones, stating: “We note that you claimed £569 from the Member Overnight Accommodation Budget for a stay in a Cardiff hotel from May 12 to May 18. Given that you represent a Cardiff constituency, why did you make this claim and do you consider it provided value for money for taxpayers?”

In line with Reform UK’s policy of refusing to engage with Welsh news outlets that have been critical of it, Mr Parry-Jones did not respond to us.

Instead, he wrote a post on X that said: “The stay was for 7 nights, not 1, in a bog standard Premier Inn room. I didn’t live in Cardiff until after the election, so I had to stay at a hotel to attend in-person Senedd training and constituency set-up. Unless you wanted me to commute from Anglesey every day?

“Across all Senedd Members this term, I account for 1.01% of total expenses. Being targeted by the left over something this flimsy must be a good sign. I hope @NationCymru run an article on it next.”

Refnation.uk asked its members whether MPs and MSs should be allowed to claim hotel expenses in their constituencies.

A report from the platform said: “85% voted No and 15% voted Yes, with 1,937 members in total taking part.

“Welsh members were the most open to it, with 30% voting Yes.

“Every party’s backers said no by a wide margin, from Conservative backers on 16% Yes to Restore Britain backers on 8%.”

The full results can be seen [here](https://refnation.uk/referendum/should-mps-and-senedd-members-be-able-to-claim-for-hotel-sta_027b4fe0-63a1-429c-be90-2f0b4d5f0759).

Shane Stocks, who runs ref.nation, said: “Whichever party they back, our members were clear that politicians shouldn’t claim for hotels in the area they represent. Welsh members were the most sympathetic, twice as likely as the rest to say yes, though from a much smaller group.”

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