The allowance can be used for all living costs, including furniture and utilities bills, up to a maximum of about £23,000 per year. It can also be used to pay rent, hotel bills or the interest payments (though not equity repayments) on a mortgage.

It is a sad truth that this has become one of the perks of being an MP. The majority of MPs purchase a property on an interest-only mortgage, only to sell the property when they leave Parliament, benefiting from any capital gain in the property value. As you can imagine, in central London, these capital gains can be substantial, even in lean years in the housing markets.

It should be a principle that payments to politicians should be both fair and transparent. MPs should be paid a relevant rate for the job they do - however, the property perk will is neither fair nor transparent. It isn't fair because the benefits to each MP differ depending on the state of the housing market on election and it is not transparent because of the difficulty of unpicking what is reasonable support and what should be (but is not) taxed income.

Proposals to give MPs a £23,000 grant toward their living costs will only serve to anger the public at a time when food and fuel prices are rising faster than pay packets.

My alternative proposal is this:

1. Let the money go toward purchasing properties in central London, but not by MPs. Set up a company to maintain a property portfolio, which MPs can access as needed.
   
2. This could include a range of accomodation types and the excess capacity could be let commercially.
   
3. Management of the property portfolio could be outsourced to a private company if necessary.
   
4. When an MP leaves parliament, they no longer have access to the properties and instead, the state is accruing the assets, which will reduce in cost once the capital is paid.

Let's see if anyone takes up this proposal and runs with it.