Baroness Pola Uddin in scandal of £100k expenses claims
(7 May 2009)

Muslim Peer, Baroness Pola Uddin has become embroiled in a row over House of Lords expenses claims after The Sunday Times newspaper reported on Sunday 3 May 2009 that she was receiving more than £100,000 by claiming that her main residence was a flat in Maidstone in Kent, while she continued to live in her East London home a mere few miles from the House of Lords. The row has escalated further after it emerged that Uddin and her son both live in separate flats in the same East London block owned by the Spitalfields Housing Association - residences designated as affordable housing for low-income families. It is alleged that Uddin is also claiming £2000 per month for maintaining the East London flat, where the average rent charged is just £500 per month. Uddin has said, "I do not believe that I have done anything wrong or breached any House of Lords rules."

Uddin is a Labour politician, community activist, and most notable for being the first Muslim woman in the House of Lords. Born in Bangladesh in 1959, Manzila Pola Uddin came to Britain in 1973 as a teenager. She began working for Newham Social Services in 1988, rising to become Deputy leader of Tower Hamlets in 1994. She lost out to Oona King in the race to become the Labour parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green in 1997 and was made a peer by Tony Blair in 1998, when she took on title 'Baroness Uddin of Bethnal Green', at the age of 38. A campaigner on women's and ethnic minority issues, she recently became Chair of the cross-party Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Women Councillors Taskforce launched in May 2008 by Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality. The taskforce is charged with encouraging more ethnic women into politics and local councils.

On 5 May 2009, one of the senior Lord's official, Clerk of the Parliaments, announced that the House of Lords authorities are investigating the report by The Sunday Times. Uddin welcomed the review: "I welcome this review and will co-operate fully with him in the hope of a speedy resolution and clarity that I did not break the rules of the House."