£820k-a-year MP who tried to claim 49p for pint of milk
ONE of Westminster’s highest earners, who rakes in up to £820,000 as a part-time barrister, had an expense claim for a 49p pint of milk and £2 tea bags rejected.
Geoffrey Cox, the Tory MP for Torridge and West Devon, made the claim for milk in June 2014.
In the same month he banked a single payment of £325,000 for legal services.
In August, his claim for the tea bags was turned down by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) as it was deemed to be ‘not under scheme’.
Latest details from IPSA reveal how Nationalist MPs have used the expenses system. Dundee West MP Chris Law claimed £4,036 for IKEA office furniture, while Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP Margaret Ferrier clawed back 80p for ‘wall tack’, 82p for highlighters and £1.10 for rubber bands.
Former Labour MP Russell Brown, who lost his seat in the General Election, got £7,588 in winding-up costs, while taxpayers were billed £2,500 for disgraced former Falkirk MP Eric Joyce to move his office items from London.
Michelle Thomson, suspended by the SNP last year amid a police investigation into mortgage deals, claimed £4,000 for media/communications services in May and June.
Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader, had multiple claims, worth £1,068, rejected by IPSA.
These included a claim for electrical equipment from Dixons costing £79.99. But an SNP spokesman last night claimed: ‘Documentation for outstanding claims has been provided to IPSA and Angus Robertson MP has been reimbursed.’
Mr Cox’s website has boasted that he was given a ‘clean bill of health’ during the recent expenses inquiry, and stated: ‘Geoffrey supports the complete revision of the system.’
When the slip-up was pointed out to Mr Cox, he blamed his staff.
Until May, MPs could claim for refreshments offered to constituents in their offices but this was scrapped.
He said: ‘In collating the office expenses for me to sign off, my staff had failed to notice that the rules had changed in May so as to place these costs outside the scope of IPSA’s scheme.
‘Once the error was identified, it was returned by IPSA and immediately cancelled by my staff.’
Some 2,300 expenses claims were processed by IPSA in August and September last year.
Greg Barker, a former energy minister and now a Tory member of the House of Lords, submitted a £366 claim for removal costs which was not paid because he failed to produce enough evidence. The shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker has repaid a £300 bill for a removal van claimed on August 3.
Tory Mark Pritchard made an £843 claim for an economy flight to Vienna that was not paid, also because it was not supported by evidence.
An IPSA spokesman declined to comment on individual MPs, but said the data reflects claims that were processed in August and September 2015 and should not be interpreted as a trend or pattern.
Comment – Page 16