Henry Smith MP has joined the Prime Minister in the House of Commons by calling for political funding reform, following the latest figures showing the size of the subsidy being given to trade unions by taxpayers.

Henry said;

“Thanks to the work of TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), it has been revealed that public bodies are providing trade union representatives with office space in taxpayer-funded buildings at knock-down rates. This goes against Government advice calling for restrictions on this happening.

“The TPA have worked out that over the last financial year, the total area provided to trade unions was 273,753 square feet. This works out as the equivalent to the size of the Kremlin in Moscow. This space would have a market value of over £27 million at London and south east rates.

“I would be interested to hear the views of hard-working union members who may be concerned to see that this is how their taxes are being spent, as well as on trade union facility time – which the TaxPayers’ Alliance have led the way in campaigning against.

“I am grateful to the Speaker of the House of Commons for giving me the opportunity to allowing me to make a point to the Prime Minister for the third time in little over a week, following my question on local manufacturing last week and my opposition on Monday to the EU wanting even more of our money.”

Henry Smith, Member of Parliament for Crawley, asked the Prime Minister;

“A recent TaxPayers’ Alliance study revealed that the amount of taxpayers’ money being spent on union office space is the equivalent of £27.4 million at London market value, with a square footage equivalent to that of the Kremlin. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is time for further political funding reform?”

The Prime Minister, Rt Hon David Cameron MP, responded;

“I think it is necessary to cap the donations that unions make to parties and that should be introduced. My hon. Friend comes up with an ingenious idea: if trade unions have so much extra space, maybe they should do what the Government are doing and make additional space available to entrepreneurs so that we can have more start-ups and more enterprise. That is a contribution that the trade unions could make.”

To see Henry’s question to the Prime Minister, please visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT9Ol9B8jc8. For more on the TPA’s research, please visit www.taxpayersalliance.com/home/2014/10/tpa-research-raised-prime-ministers-questions.html