A senior minister and former Royal Marines colonel has used parliamentary expenses to fund a series of promotional constituency videos, including one showing him undertaking a pull-up challenge with a firefighter, as the overall cost of the MPs’ expenses system comes under Treasury scrutiny.
Al Carns, the Minister for the Armed Forces and MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, claimed approximately £3,000 for the production of 17 films. The videos, approved by the expenses watchdog the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), show him visiting a local brewery, handling historical armour at a museum, and competing in an “MP v firefighter pull up challenge” at a fire station.
Military background and political profile
The content of the videos frequently references Mr Carns’s distinguished 24-year military career. A former regular officer who rose to the rank of Colonel, he served five operational tours in Afghanistan and was awarded the Military Cross in 2011. He resigned his commission, having been slated for promotion to Brigadier, in May 2024 to stand for Parliament and is now considered a potential future leadership hopeful within the Labour Party.
In one video at a museum, he mentions spending “weeks, if not months in the field in the marines”. In another, while handling armour, he states: “I’ve worn body armour my whole life – for 24 years.” At a brewery, he is filmed having a pint and saying, “It’s really important we in government help companies like this thrive.”
Overall, he claimed about £14,000 for the services of a PR consultant and a videographer. On LinkedIn, the consultant highlighted work on a “series of short films shining a light on just some of the incredible work taking place across Al’s Birmingham Selly Oak constituency”.
The rules on promotion and public engagement
Ipsa’s rules explicitly state that public funding must not be used for costs “explicitly or primarily aimed at promotion of [an MP’s] own political profile.” Funding is only permitted for costs incurred as a result of parliamentary functions.
When asked about the claims, a spokesperson for Mr Carns said the expenditure was “made in full compliance with IPSA rules, and has been properly declared and approved.” They stated the videos formed “part of Al’s work to communicate with constituents and highlight the work of local organisations and public services across the constituency,” focusing on “engagement, and transparency, not personal promotion.”
Mr Carns added that most of the PR consultant’s work related to “day-to-day constituency office support” and that his overall staff spending of £111,000 was “significantly below typical levels for MPs.” He noted the contractor had also been employed by his predecessor.
The claims appear to be part of a wider trend of MPs increasingly using video to communicate with the public, though it is unclear how many use expenses to fund such productions.
Rising system costs and new rulebook
The revelations come amid rising concerns over the total cost of the MP expenses system. Last month, James Murray, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, highlighted that Ipsa had requested an additional £13m to cover MPs’ claims. The annual cost of the system is now approximately £281m, up from £242m the year before.
In a letter, Mr Murray noted this increase was due to “higher demand against existing policies and budget entitlements” rather than a new policy, adding that “If Ipsa were a normal government department, HMT would reject their current reserve claim.”
Ipsa, which was established in the wake of the parliamentary expenses scandal, this month released a new, principle-based rulebook for MPs. The new scheme, which condenses about 45 pages of rules into 10, offers MPs greater flexibility and discretion over business costs. It removes much detail into separate guidance and will come into force on 1 April 2026.
An Ipsa spokesperson said the change aimed to ensure “MPs have the right amount of flexibility to determine how to run their parliamentary affairs,” bringing the regulator “in line with other areas of public life” such as the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. The new rules will also allow outer-London MPs to claim for hotels or rented accommodation near parliament instead of a higher living allowance.
While the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards investigates breaches of the MPs’ Code of Conduct, complaints about the misuse of parliamentary expenses fall under a separate process governed by Ipsa.
