A Labour MP has been cleared of breaching Parliament’s expenses rules after an investigation into apparent discrepancies over accommodation and travel found he was “careful with spending public money”.
The probe by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) found Birmingham MP Tahir Ali even erred “too much on the side of caution”, funding “considerable” costs out of his own pocket when he could have claimed for them.
Ipsa opened its investigation into Ali in May 2025, over questions about not only travel and accommodation expenses but office costs.
In a report on Thursday, Ipsa’s compliance officer Matt Walker said Ali had committed “no breaches” of Parliament’s expenses policy.
He found that three mobile phone handsets ordered by the Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley MP were ultimately “claimable business costs”.
On the issue of seeming discrepancies in claims for travel and hotel accommodation by the MP, Walker said he had received “detailed information” that led him to conclude they were due to “dating errors”.
He added: “My investigation revealed that [Ali] is in fact careful with spending public money.
“When he moved from his former constituency office into his current office, [Ali] made the decision to remove and reuse anything that was possible to reuse, which had been funded by Ipsa.”
As well as reusing window blinds and kitchen units, Ali attempted to have the laminate flooring he had installed in his old office removed and reused in his new one.
The investigation also found the MP had paid for new LED lighting and some electrical works at his constituency office out of his own pocket, which Walker said would have come “at quite a considerable cost” and should have been covered by Ipsa or the office’s landlord.
Mr Walker said: “[Ali] covered costs himself, advising me that this was as he is very protective of the public purse.
“I advised [him] that where a cost is claimable, he should claim it and there is no expectation that he covers some costs himself.”
Ali has been contacted for comment.
