Average MP now costs you £240k a year

TAXPAYERS are forking out nearly £240,000 on average to fund their MP, figures show.

Members of Parliament claimed expenses and allowances of £157,747 on average last year – up an inflation-busting 6.5 per cent on the year before.

This is on top of the basic MP’s salary of £81,932 – adding up to £239,679.

The total claimed in expenses and allowances in 2020/21 was £127.6million, Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority figures analysed by the TaxPayers’ Alliance show.

This was up from £119.9million in 2018/19 and included £5.6million for food and travel – or £6,903 per MP – and £718,733 on hotel stays.

The figures showed the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, is the most expensive sitting MP. He claimed £259,057, including £21,431 on travel and subsistence, last year.

A Labour MP was also the least expensive, with Kim Johnson, elected last year for Liverpool Riverside, claiming total costs of £7,392 up to April 2020.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was the most expensive MP in the Cabinet, with total costs of £225,305. This compared with £174,454 for Boris Johnson and £164,545 for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

On average, MPs in the Cabinet cost £177,246, compared with £196,321 for a member of the shadow cabinet. MPs’ allowances include staffing and office costs, as well as expenses such as travel and food.

The most expensive MP was Roger Godsiff, Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green, who stepped down last year. He spent £265,668. Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, claimed the most for travel and subsistence with £51,244.

Jonathan Reynolds, the Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, claimed the most for accommodation at £39,255.

Around 98 MPs (12 per cent of the total) chose to stay in hotels when in London last year. A total of £718,733 was spent on hotel claims as part of the MPs’ accommodation budget.

Overall, the sum spent on office costs by MPs rose by four per cent to £12.9million, while staffing costs fell slightly to £90million, as did accommodation to £8.9million.

Costs were also incurred for MPs leaving Parliament. Including the December general election shake-up, 156 MPs departed in 2019, charging the taxpayer £8.5million in wind-up expenses – an average of £54,438.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘While MPs must have the resources to do their jobs, many taxpayers will be worried about the growing cost of politics.

‘With the economy and public finances in such dire straits, limiting their expenses claims where possible would be a welcome way for MPs to show that we’re all in it together.’

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority interim chairman Richard Lloyd said coronavirus had a ‘significant impact’ on both its work and that of MPs and their staff. But he added that compliance with the watchdog’s rules remained ‘very high, at 99.97 per cent’.