New expenses clampdown after Labour MP got £900 for cockapoo 'rent'

MPs could face a new expenses clampdown after a Labour whip billed taxpayers for  £900 to cover the cost of keeping her cockapoo at her second home in London.

Taiwo Owatemi had her claim for 'pet rent' approved by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) so she could keep Bella with her in the capital instead of in her Coventry North West constituency.

No rules have been broken but campaigners have lashed out at the perk enjoyed by politicians while they are pushing through benefit cuts worth billions of pounds.

A Labour Party source last said it was common for landlords to charge an extra levy for renters to keep a dog.

But minister Dan Jarvis today said the government would ask Ipsa to alter the rules.

Admitting it was 'not a good look', he told broadcaster LBC: 'I wouldn't do that, haven't done that. Therefore, I think it can't be right that the rule...
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