The government doesn’t spend £17 million a year subsidising food in Parliament

A post shared by thousands of people on Twitter wrongly claims that the government spends “£17m a year subsidising food in Parliament”. 

The post, which has also been shared a number of times on Facebook, goes on to say that the £17 million total is “ £30,000 per MP and that’s BEFORE expenses”. 

This is completely inaccurate. As we have written before, catering services on the parliamentary estate are effectively subsidised by the taxpayers at a cost of millions of pounds each year. However, the yearly total is significantly lower than £17 million and catering services are offered to thousands of people working there—not just MPs. 

False or misleading claims about politicians have the potential to affect people’s opinions of individuals, parties or…