CONSTITUENTS have reacted angrily to news that their MP owns two flats in London which he has bought with the help of taxpayers’ money.

Ashok Kumar, the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, has defended his decision to let a friend live rent free in one flat while also claiming mortgage relief on the one he bought to replace it.

He says he could not afford to pay nearly £80,000 to repair his first flat and could not sell it during the property slump.

However, his explanation did not garner much support in east Cleveland market town Guisborough yesterday.

Retired electrician Ken Scott, 63, from the town, said: “I really don’t understand what he has done.

“If he couldn’t afford to pay for the repairs to one flat, how could he afford to buy another before selling it?”

Ashley Brennan, a parttime student, said: “I cannot believe that he is going to get away with it – he says he hasn’t done anything wrong but that’s not what everyone else thinks.”

Dr Kumar, who has represented the constituency since 1991 and also has a home there, bought the second flat in 2005 and admitted that his friend had lived in the other London address for two years.

Melanie Henderson, an 18- year-old student from Guisborough, said: “This just makes him look stupid – at a time when many people can’t even afford one home he has three.

“I’m sorry, but not being able to pay for repairs to one flat and then buying another just doesn’t make any sense.”

Dr Kumar’s claims show that in 2005, he spent nearly £10,000 on furniture for his new flat.

Chris Lambert, a 23-yearold plumber, said: “I could only dream of having someone else pay for my flat to be furnished. It certainly sounds like they have bought the best of the best.”

Some of Dr Kumar’s lesser claims included paying for his London staff to stay in The Three Fiddles pub, in Guisborough.

He was billed £25 per person.

Jim Johnson, a regular at the pub, said: “That’s the best value he has got. The pub is lovely place and the price is certainly about right.”