Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Rabbi Julia Neuberger has defended her expenses claims after it was revealed she had received more than £78,000 for overnight accommodation allowances over five years.

The president of Liberal Judaism lists her main home as a flat in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire; her husband, Anthony, is a professor at Warwick Business School in nearby Coventry.

But Baroness Neuberger has claimed £78,106 over the past five years, at a rate of £174 per night, to cover the cost of staying in a townhouse she owns in Primrose Hill, north London.

The rules of the House of Lords state that members whose main home is in Greater London cannot claim the overnight allowance.

Baroness Neuberger was unavailable for comment when contacted by the JC, but confirmed to the Daily Mail that her main home was the Leamington Spa flat, where her husband lives permanently. She joins him there at weekends.

“We are there practically every weekend in term-time,” she said.