A Labour MP faces an inquiry from the Parliament’s official spending watchdog over his office costs, travel and accommodation. The Independent Parliamentary Spending Watchdog (IPSA) is investigating Tahir Ali, Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley.

IPSA said in a statement: “The Compliance Officer for IPSA has opened an investigation to determine whether Mr Tahir Ali MP has breached spending rules under IPSA’s Scheme of MPs’ Staffing and Business Costs. The investigation relates to the MP’s spending on office costs, travel and accommodation. No further information will be published until the investigation has concluded.”

It is not known which element of Mr Ali’s claims are being investigated. In the 2023-24 financial year he claimed more than £59,000 in expenses, including £12,651.77 on accommodation, £9,850.54 on travel, £685.20 on dependant’s travel, £35,691.63 on office costs and £326.33 on staff travel. This is in addition to staffing costs.

The MP, first elected in 2019, has been under fire for campaigning for a new airport to be built in Mirpur, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, along with 19 other MPs.

He claimed the failure to build an airport in Mirpur caused “significant issues to a number of my constituents who are having to drive over three hours to get to the nearest airport in Pakistan”.

In April 2020 he was given a formal warning by police after he broke Covid restrictions by attending a funeral with up to 100 mourners.

He was elected in 2019 as Labour’s candidate after the constituency’s former Labour MP, Roger Godsiff, was deselected after appearing to side with protestors who objected to lessons in local primary schools presenting families with same-sex parents in a positive light.