This is no exception even for senior Tory MPs like Suella Braverman, who is facing accusations of milking the system to get ­taxpayers to foot her £25,000 energy bill.

The home secretary has claimed for household bill allowances for five years, despite living rent-free with her parents when in her constituency of Fareham, the Mirror reports.

She has claimed up to.

Though the claims for utility payments are within parliamentary rules – MPs are allowed to claim for their main home’s bills if they do not have a second home within their constituency – this use of the benefits in this way is likely to anger the millions of people hit by the cost of living crisis.

It is ‘within the rules, but ‘it isn’t within the spirit’, Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said.

The home secretary appeared on the BBC 1 current affairs programme, Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg

The investigation by the newspaper suggests Ms Braverman uses the expenses to pay the household bills on her £1.2 million family pad in Bushey, Hertfordshire.

Former Committee on Standards in Public Life chairman Sir Alistair Graham said this looks like an attempt to ‘game the rules to maximise benefit’.

‘She says she “fully funds” her constituency accommodation but does not reveal it is owned by her parents,’ he added.

‘Those are weasel words, she needs to explain what it means. Is she manipulating the rules to strengthen her household income? It has the smell of a conspiracy to do that.’

There are also those who question why MPs who have great personal wealth can claim for expenses at all.

Being an MP is a two-centre job, and so the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority permits those representing constituencies outside the capital to fund accommodation and associated costs in a second location.

This includes energy, utilities, internet and council tax, but not MPs’ mortgages or mortgage interest.

For 2022-23, the accommodation budget is £25,080 for renting in London, and £17,840 for outside.

This is why Ms Braverman’s expense claims for her parents’ home are ‘difficult to justify’, argues Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain.

He said: ‘Even if it is within the rules, it is not within the spirit of the rules. It shows how out of touch some Conservative MPs have become.’

A source close to the senior MP, who has recently been in the news for her greatly controversial plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, would not confirm if she contributed to the costs of the house her parents Uma and Christie own.

‘The home secretary has chosen not to rent a home in her constituency for which she would be entitled to claim £17,000 a year, and therefore saving the taxpayer money,’ he said.

‘Instead, when she became MP for Fareham, she and her family made a home in her constituency so she could stay there.

‘She doesn’t claim a penny from the taxpayer on this home.’