Fury at MPs' £2.5m pre-election expenses

Published on Friday 25 June 2010 00:10

A ROW has broken out over the way MPs claimed more than £2.5 million of taxpayers money to promote themselves in the run-up to the election.

The figure emerged when the Commons' authorities published the second and third quarter expenses for MPs covering the last six months of 2009.

The communications budget, which Prime Minister David Cameron has attacked in the past, covers websites, magazines and leaflets as well as delivery costs. It accounted for more than a quarter of the total 10.05m on claimed during that period.

A total of 1.1m was spent producing magazines, leaflets and newsletters, another 1m went on delivery charges, 130,000 went on their websites and 257,000 on advertising.

Matthew Elliott, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, pointed out that many politicians had predicted an early election in 2010 just ahead of the time the cash was spent on self publicity.

He said: "These new figures show how much of taxpayers' money was spent giving a huge and unfair advantage to incumbent MPs. The communications allowance effectively gave them pocket money to spend on advertising themselves in the run-up the election."

However, the expenses scandal appeared to have had an effect on MPs, with the total down from the same period in 2008-9 from 11,768,749.

There were no claims made for furniture and fittings, one of the most controversial aspects of the old system from the so-called John Lewis list. However, more than 47,000 was claimed in petty cash without receipts and 370,761.08 on food.

Individual MPs still faced questions about some of their claims, including Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister Chris Huhne who submitted a 14p receipt for stationery.

But the publication also saw more controversy for Lib Dem Chief Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander, the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, who has recently been facing questions about not paying capital gains tax on a property he sold in London.

Labour MP Willie Bain, the lowest claimant from Scotland because he was elected an MP in the last few weeks of the expenses period, said Mr Alexander had "serious questions to answer" after it was revealed he charged taxpayers more than 13,000 for his wife, journalist Rebecca Hoar, to make 62 journeys between London and Scotland.

He charged for food, utility, council tax and mortgage interest payments at two London properties he shared with Ms Hoar. Their home in Wandsworth has been registered as a second property for expenses purposes, while a house in Aviemore is officially the family's main residence.

But it has been suggested by opponents that his main home is in London and Miss Hoar's name appears on bills for the London address, and she is thought to spend at least half her working week in the capital.

Last night a Treasury spokesman said: "The Aviemore residence is designated as Danny Alexander's main home, in accordance with the parliamentary rules, because that is where he has spent most of his time. All Mr Alexander's food claims have been publicly available for years."

Mr Alexander's former special adviser in the Scotland Office, Willie Rennie, appears at the top of the league table for Scottish MPs. But Mr Rennie, who lost his Dunfermline and West Fife seat in May, warned that the figures were "distorted" because they only took six months out of the financial year with MPs putting claims in at different times.

He also defended the use of communication allowances as being "essential" for an MP's work.

"I went door knocking three times a week, but there is no way you can meet everybody," he said. "MPs need to communicate with their constituents, tell them what they are doing and find out what they are thinking with surveys."