Defence Secretary John Healey caught up in council tax blunder
MP and key Government minister John Healey has been caught up in a council blunder over his second home.
The Rawmarsh and Conisbrough MP, who is also the Defence Secretary, had done all the necessary paperwork for his rented flat in central London.
However, the local council there dropped a clanger and failed to charge him the correct fee.
As a result, he underpaid just under £1,500 in tax.
According to LBC, Healey should have been paying £2,938 per year, but was paying only about half that.
The Westminster authority later acknowledged it had issued Mr Healey with an incorrect tax notice and apologised for the slip-up.
Mr Healey, whose family home is in Wickersley, paid the required amount last week, according to a report by the Daily Telegraph.
A spokesperson said the error lay solely with the local authority and that Mr Healey had "fulfilled all his obligations" by declaring the flat a second home when he moved.
A spokesperson for Mr Healey said: "The Secretary of State fulfilled all his obligations as a tenant by notifying Westminster Council of the second home status of the tenancy on the council tax registration form when the tenancy began.
"Westminster Council made an administrative error which failed to classify it as a second home for council tax purposes, and led to an incorrect council tax notice being issued.
"The council have accepted fault and apologised for the error."
A Westminster City Council spokesperson cleared Mr Healey of any personal error: "The Secretary of State filled in the form correctly and registered the address as a second home.
"There was an oversight by the council, and we did not register it as a second home.
"This led to an incorrect council tax notice being issued. We apologise for the error."
The council oversight will likely have been a brief but unwelcome distraction for Mr Healey, who supervises Britain's military readiness in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their recent deployment of spy ship, the Yantar, off the coast of Scotland. The Yantar crew used lasers to target RAF pilots on their tail.