Simon Danczuk MP

Fighting for Rochdale, Littleborough and Milnrow

Simon Danczuk, Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary Candidate, has said he’s saddened and disappointed to read revelations in today’s Daily Mail and Spectator magazine (22nd April 2010) that Mr Rowen, the current Lib Dem MP for Rochdale, has been accused of siphoning public money into the coffers of Rochdale Liberal Democrat Party.

Simon said: “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the allegations that Mr Rowen has used his Parliamentary expenses to fund election campaign materials and equipment. I know that myself and Rochdale Labour local election candidates struggle to raise donations to run our election campaigns and we’re always trying to encourage volunteers to do more. If it’s all true, Mr Rowen and his Rochdale Lib Dems have a very unfair advantage over other local political parties.”

The Daily Mail has reported: “Paul Rowen the Liberal Democrat MP for Rochdale, is one who has made highly imaginative use of his expenses to funnel taxpayers cash into the party. When Rowen was a candidate, a company called Rochdale Reform Buildings ‘freely gifted’ him office space. Since his election in 2005, he has paid £14,000 to the company. Its accounts show it is run by local Liberal Democrats and has donated to his campaign. In October 2005, Mr Rowen registered a £1,793 donation from the firm. Just two weeks after he registered the donation, he charged the Commons fees office an almost identical amount in rent. In 2005 and in 2006 Mr Rowen also used public money to pay £4,000 to the regional Lib Dem office in Manchester for ‘professional services in support of his parliamentary duties’. In 2007, the ‘Rochdale Liberal Democrat Print Society’ charged taxpayers £6,000 for a share of an envelope stuffing machine.”

Simon continued: “Mr Rowen and his leader, Nick Clegg, have always talked about the need to clean up politics and have greater transparency, which I agree with. But if Mr Rowen has been using taxpayers money to pay for adverts in Lib Dem leaflets, move office rent money around and into his campaigning funds and to advertise himself at our football ground then he’s mired in dirty politics and isn’t at all transparent. I’m very disappointed that he appears to be saying one thing to Rochdale residents and doing something completely different.”

The Spectator article goes further: “The evidence shows that taxpayers’ money has clearly been recycled through Rowen’s expense account and into his Lib Dem campaign. Using an organisation called Rochdale Liberal Democrat Print Society, Rowen has claimed £6,000 for the purchase of part of an envelope-stuffing machine, as well as a whopping £700 to advertise his surgery in the newsletters printed on it. And this advertising revenue, of course, helped pay for the distribution of his campaign material. Rowen has also cleverly charged taxpayers for advertising in the local cricket, football and rugby grounds – in one year we paid £1,493 for this privilege. How on earth can Rowen justify this spending to his constituents? But his imaginative use of expenses goes much further. Since becoming an MP he has filed invoices to Parliamentary fees office for nearly £20,000 in rent for his constituency office on Drake Street in Rochdale. While every MP needs an office, what is interesting about Rowen’s is that it is owned by local Liberal Democrats through a shell company called Rochdale Reform Buildings Ltd. Before Rowen was an MP, this “company” gave him this office space for free. The moment he could claim rent on expenses, he did and the funds were paid to the shell company. The question I put to Rowen’s office earlier was simple: why is an office given for free one day, and then cost thousands of pounds of rent on the next day? Answer came there none. What happens to this public money next is really interesting: in October 2005, RRB Ltd sends Rowen a cheque for £1,793 – an amount almost exactly equal to his quarterly rent. This is clearly unacceptable but gets worse. The 2004 Rochdale Lib Dem accounts, from the period before his election, show that the notional value of Rowen’s annual rent of the offices was just £660 per annum. As soon as he becomes an MP, these costs rise to thousands of pounds per annum. In the year after his election, taxpayers paid rent on Rowen’s office of £5215.07, in 06-07 we paid £5696.69 and a year later £7814.33. Curiously, after the expenses scandal broke Rowen seems no longer to have filed them.”

Simon finally stated: “It’s a sad day for politics in Rochdale. I’m sure people in the town will be extremely concerned about these allegations and I am sure they will be insulted if it is found that public money has been used to support Rochdale Liberal Democrats.”