UKIP's Neil Hamilton refused Cardiff home costs

Neil Hamilton, whose main home is in Wiltshire, is the only AM who does not live in Wales

UKIP's Neil Hamilton will not be able to claim for the costs of running a home in Cardiff, the assembly's remuneration board has decided.

The independent body said it received "significant opposition" to a proposed change in the rules that would have permitted AMs living outside Wales to claim the expense.

However, Mr Hamilton will be able to continue to claim for hotel stays.

He said he was pleased the board recognised its duty to support him.

In the summer, the remuneration board held a consultation on changing the rules to allow AMs to claim up to £8,820 per year in residential accommodation expenses if they live outside Wales.

Some 41 responses were received by the board, including objections from former UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill.

The only AM that lives outside Wales is Mr Hamilton, the AM for Mid and West Wales and current UKIP Wales leader, who lives in Wiltshire.

AMs who live in the electoral regions of North Wales, and Mid and West Wales, can already claim for housing costs in Cardiff.

Under the proposals, this so-called "outer area" for residential expenses would have been extended to any AMs who lived outside Wales.

'Case-by-case basis'

A letter to AMs, written by board chairwoman Dame Dawn Primarolo, said many responses argued that AMs should live within Wales and "preferably within the constituency that they represent".

The former Labour MP and minister said the board was "not taking a view on this", adding it was "clearly a politically sensitive matter and a decision for legislators".

In "exceptional circumstances" the board would look at paying the expenses of an AM where their main home was outside Wales on a "case-by-case basis", she wrote.

Dame Primarolo added that temporary arrangements put in place pending the decision would continue.

"We will reimburse hotel accommodation where necessarily incurred in connection with assembly duties in Cardiff," she added.

Dame Dawn Primarolo said the board would continue to reimburse hotel costs for Mr Hamilton

Mr Hamilton had written into the consultation in support of overnight accommodation being reimbursed.

He said the decision was "exactly what I proposed to the board at the outset, namely that they should not change the current determination but make an exception in this instance".

"I was democratically elected as an AM and my address appeared openly on the ballot paper," he said.

"I am 100% committed to the assembly and my constituents - much to the consternation of my political opponents, who tried to deny me the means to be most effective as an AM."

Mr Gill had told the consultation that the proposal could have meant he could "choose to move to the Outer Hebrides and still expect the Welsh tax payer to pay my expenses to get to Cardiff Bay".

Others who objected included the Labour Party group in the assembly, which "vehemently" opposed the plan, and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, who said the proposal would "send out the wrong message".

Bethan Jenkins, Plaid AM for South Wales West, said the board came to the right decision while Labour Islwyn AM Rhianon Passmore called the decision "good for public faith in people in politics and the expenses system".