A Government minister today defended claiming the maximum expenses for a second home in London despite living just 19 miles from the Commons.
Helen Grant, appointed to the Ministry of Justice in September's reshuffle, lives in a £1.8 million home in Reigate, Surrey - outside her Maidstone constituency.
The Equalities Minister also rents a Thameside flat near the MI6 building in Vauxhall which is funded on expenses.
Helen Grant claims maximum expenses for a second home in London despite living just 19 miles from the Commons
Mrs Grant is eligible for a second home allowance on Parliamentary expenses because her constituency is outside London and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) confirmed the MP's claim was within the rules.
But the Reigate home in which Mrs Grant lives is not far enough from London for the constituency MP - Tory Crispin Blunt - to make similar expenses claims.
A spokeswoman for Mrs Grant said today: "Mrs Grant's constituency has been deemed by IPSA to be a non-London constituency and she is therefore fully entitled to use her rental accommodation allowance either in London or in the constituency.
"She has a base in her constituency at her mother's property, where her son also lives, so she sees no need to rent a further property there.
"The focus of her time and responsibility has always been Maidstone and the Weald."
The expense claims were uncovered in an investigation by Channel 4's Dispatches, which is due to broadcast a film called MPs: Are They Still At It? tomorrow night.
A spokesman for IPSA said: "We set the rules up based on the constituency the MP represents. We provide support for one of those locations to help with renting a flat.
"Ultimately it comes down to the MP's judgment about what they need to claim for.
"We don't check to see what private assets an MP has."
Mrs Grant's London flat is supported by expense claims of £1,666.67 per month - the maximum allowed within the rules, which caps rental claims at £20,000 per year. Mrs Grant has filed claims for rent since March this year.
Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said the MP appeared to have breached the spirit of the rules and called for them to be tightened to prevent other such cases.
"Helen Grant's arrangements certainly appear to be against the spirit of the rules.
"The taxpayer-funded allowance for a second home is meant to be there for MPs living in a constituency home from which they cannot reasonably commute to Westminster on a daily basis.
"Most people would expect that by choosing to remain living in her Surrey home - which is a commutable distance from London - Mrs Grant would have made herself ineligible to make these claims.
"This is a loophole in the rules which ought to be closed."